Re: Dia daigram software

["Octavio Alvarez" <alvarezp alvarezp ods org>]

On Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:00:54 -0700, Maxie Botes (MJ)  
<BotesMJ telkom co za> wrote:

> Thank you for the wonderful products.

Think of it not as a "product" but more a "project".

> These products are free right?

Not only free in terms of cost, but also "free" in terms of freedom (think  
"free speech").

Not only you are allowed to use it freely, but also you are free to change  
it to your needs and to improve it yourself and publish your changes back.  
See the General Public License for licensing terms.

> I have always wondered how your
> funding works, do you solely fund the programs on donations and adds?

At least the original source code has no ads. Other pieces may, though.

It is community-developed. Just as I voluntarily took the time to answer  
you even though I could simply let your message go by, others take the  
time to actually improve the code, changing things here and there. All of  
them just want to have a better program. That's why contributions from  
everyone are important.

Others take an opportunity to help. For example, a student that has to do  
some programming-related homework, instead of creating something that will  
be eternally forgotten anyway, he takes a "free software" project (free as  
in speech) and improves it.

So, basically there is a "community". ;-)

Welcome to the mailing-list.


--
Octavio.

Twitter: @alvarezp2000 -- Identi.ca: @alvarezp