There seems to be a lot of focus on business computing and competing with companies like Microsoft and Apple or trying to win over businesses and companies. We shouldn’t let the ideas of the computing industry dictate how free software developers should develop software.
For example, the the use of the words “open source” instead of “free software” and the constant mention of the price tag of free/open source software as a selling point is annoying. People aren’t cheap…they’ll shell out cash for various items. We should be more willing to charge money for things and force people to see the inherent value of the software rather than making them see only the price tag.
Another example is how we try and replicate existing proprietary software. I don’t want OpenOffice to look like Word and I don’t want a PowerPoint clone at all.
We shouldn’t be afraid to try out new and innovative ideas instead of following the proprietary software companies blindly and merely duplicating their efforts.
