Don't you just wish Rev would do this?

[David Bovill]

On 05/06/07, Richard Gaskin <ambassador at fourthworld.com> wrote:

> Are these young minds concerned about cost, or do they need to modify
> the C++ source?
>

Cost makes little difference to the students I know - if they need a piece
of software in their studies they "know" how to get it :) Access to the
source code - for hacking and learning - maybe.

The reasons I pick up on are a mixed bunch: - a mixture of:

   - the philosophy - what are the ideas behind it / is it cool?
   - more important is a sense of "follow the leader". They want to be in
   the same crowd as other cool coders they respect.
   - Add to this a bit of long term business nous - is this framework
   going to be around when I qualify = "open source is the way to go"

The cost factor is particularly perverse - in poorer countries where money
is much more of an immediate factor than pure geek credentials - proprietary
software (ripped off) is the way to go. In some notable cases governments
and goverment contracts try to encourage open source in these situations -
again largely for "political" reasons, or a mistaken idea that it will be
cheaper.