A batch mate of mine went through a revelation about Linux yesterday. He had come to get some codec installed on his lappy since he couldn't view video files.
And while we were downloading a codec pack off the internet, he's like, "How come these guys can give all these things for free?!" It came as a shock to me at first though; considering the fact that I've been a freelance page designer since long enough, and most of my projects have been done for free (yes free), I couldn't understand how to make him understand the concept of open source.
So I began with Linux, and said that a codec pack is virtually nothing, and that there are OS's that are also available for free. Initially he was quite surprised and like most people who've been using Microsoft product since ages, also thought that the OS must be substandard in its working. First of all I had to make him understand what actually the concept of 'free' meant as far as Linux was concerned. Free didn't mean that the software didn't cost a thing. More than that, a free OS meant freedom; freedom to modify it, change it, label the changes under your name, and even re-distribute it to the masses so that others too can benefit from it.
Come to think of it, Linux, is more like knowledge, which grows when shared. While windows is like an online tutorial, where you pay to get something, Linux is like a forum, where one just needs to register and the knowledge is shared freely on message boards.
The fellow still had the persistent question as to, "How do these guys make money?"
I stopped trying to make the fellow understand that it wasn't about money, but it was more about the passion and the irreverence towards the concept of 'closed source'.
Instead I just told him that Linux is a brand, and the fellow didn't ask for more. Sometimes when you try to derive syllogisms for a phenomenon people just don't get it, but when one uses jargons, they just seem to understand the whole thing in a split second. Weird I tell you!
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