Best Thing about Open-Source Software?
 

Please cast your vote for the thing which you personally like the most about open-source software. This is eventually going to be compiled into an article, so comments are welcome. If you don't wish to be quoted, please add a post-script to your comment and let me know. Also, if your opinion cannot be summed up by one of the poll options (i.e. you dislike OSS), feel free to comment on that as well.

Thanks!
- AT

Uhmmmm....
Save for "What does "Open-Source" mean again?" , all of the above is applicable to me.
Even though I wouldn't know how to make chocolate of the provided code(I couldn't code my sorry ass out of a wet paperbag , if my life depended on it) I certainly aknowledge the merit of those points.
Maybe a Mod can add the "all of the above"-option in there , right before the "What does "Open-Source" mean again?".
Then I could cast my vote.

Hmm, I would have inserted that one, but then the poll wouldn't have given the information I was looking for (everybody would choose the "all of the above" option -- including me!).

-AT

The Pretentiousness!

Exactly what do you expect from a guy called "anti_trend"? :D

what does Pretentiousness mean? :(

anyway, i picked stability, as that was one of the reasons why i decided to try linux (knowing only it was a free version of unix), at that time i also knew another thing about it, and at the time was the biggest... it wasn't Maco$hit, as far as i knew unix/linux was big, bloated, resource hungry devils (well, you cant blame me here, iv only seen it advertised for computers with way to much resources...) but anyhow i also knew that theres was nothing in the world that can be worser then M$ software, even the metro system is better then M$ (and those buss schedules are nearly impossible for me to understand, and until i learn were the buss comes i just get on a semi-randum buss and see were it takes me... not the best way to learn buss times/were they go, but the only one i can understand :) )

anyways.... once i learned and used linux i found it almost never crashed once everything was set up right, and i was constantly expecting it to crash and freeze up as thats what windows would have done if the computer went that slow, but it never did... so thats why i picked stability (altho they are all closely numbered, but i need a stable OS of anything else (almost..., i ain't paying $1000 or anything around that much for a OS, no matter how stable it is.. hell my laptop i put it on only cost me less then $300, more like $200)

Pretentiousness means in a way knowing that you're good, know what you're doing and not worried about showing it, I'm pretty sure. About the vote, I have to select all but the -what's open source- too. Have fun with those buses :)

thx witeshark, i got the busses i need down from my house the the college (for a GED program), it only took a week, and a few miles (at least 10?) of walking....

There's more than one good reason to choose OSS in my opinion!

An "all of the above" would have got my nod, but by the people for the people is the best if you can only choose from the above list.

Linux - the FIRST frontier on the way back to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" !!! If you want to celebrate something on July 4th, celebrate LINUX !

For me its the satisfaction, its free and it does exactly the same for me as software which I could buy.

You don't have to worry about the feds kicking in your front door, sticking guns in your face and seizing your PC to see if you have any pirated Microsoft software. Linux users pay for software because they want to make a contribution, not because the government terrorized them into doing it. :p And yes, I've bought retail copies of both Red Hat and Mandrake.

i use linux cause i hate corporations.