I bought Mandrake 10.1, Slackware 10.1, Vector Linux 4.3, SimplyMepis 2004, Knoppix 3.7, Puppy Linux 0.9.7
I d/loaded so many others I thought it was fair to give something back.

I bought RH enterprise 2 when I was starting out.

In total, I've probably thrown down a couple hundred bucks (or more) over the years I have used Linux and *BSD. I have willingly done this... knowing full well that I could easily have the software for free. In fact, in one case I bought the software and had it installed a week before it arrived -- thanks to my high speed internet connection. I paid for the software to have around to make an install that much faster if a friend wanted to do it (sure I could have burnt an iso but I also desired to donate something to the project).

I am a little saddened to see people saying they will never give/pay money for free software. It is like those who would empty the "give a penny, take a penny" cup each time they enter a gas station... even when they don't need the change and even though they never put a penny in it.

Yeah, the software is available free but is a donation really going to harm you? With the exception of the 8th grader, who would miss $15-$25? I've spent more on booze in a day than that... I'm sure many here would never really miss that amount. Even as a poor college student, who has a very tight budget most times, I can collect that amount by just throwing change in a jar for a few months.

fortunately i use open source solutions at work so it is a little easier to spend the money. i don't do it enough on either a professional or personal level. so many people contribute so much i feel i should give something back. sometimes it is a little overwhelming trying to decide what project to support. i always by my slack distros when a new release comes out but it could really add up if i contributed to every project. those of you who support software/app efforts how do you decide who and what?

Tom

Pretty simple actually. Pay for what you actually use and get use from. This is what makes the free software so great... you can cheaply explore what distribution or OS works for you. At the start it might seem like a big thing because you might switch every month or so. Maybe you will keep switching for a long time. But most people find a system which works for them and which they rely on for getting serious work done. They can play around all day with other stuff but it is what they depend on for getting things done. Sometimes it takes a long time to settle in but I've seen most people do it.

For me, it was FreeBSD (and now NetBSD). I would play with different things all the time but when I needed to work it was always what I turned to. So it is no suprise that most of my monetary donations have gone towards that project -- and I'm still saving outrageous amounts of money compared to a similar system provided by a certain commercial company.

Basically, when you have settled in to a comfortable routine and use a specific set of software on a regular basis (you should know what programs you use most)... that is how you determine which projects you want to support. Or, at least, that is how I determine it.

I'm proud to say that I payed for SuSe 8.2 once apon a time, around 2001; but unfortnatly now that I am living over seas it is kind of hard to buy Open Source / Free software. Most Places don't reconize APOs or think that I count as a Japaneese Citizen, not a member of the US Air Force, and a legal US citizen. But In time I hope to buy another distro, ie Debian, as well as hopefuly some other software.

Yes, I paid a vast amount for SUSE 5.3 a long time back. it was well worth the money as it got me hooked. Since then I've only downloaded or paid a couple of pounds to save me downloading... maybe Debain will get a very well deserved donation from me one day...

I agree with frob23, for most of us parting with 20 bucks isn't such a big deal, so why not do it? As far as I see it, the free software is at least as good as the non-free stuff and normally much better and FOSS has the added benifit of respecting your rights as a consumer, so why not donate a little for it?

Kind of.
I bought a book called "Mastering RH9" that came with RH9, but I don't use Red Hat now. I used it then gave it up.
calcon