"Check almost any online repository of open/free programs and you'll see just about every possible variatin of some ideas, almost all of which are programs that are fun to write or appeal to a very narrow band of interests. Honestly, how many programs do we need to troll newsgroups for binaries, edit text, or create online photo albums?"

"The Free Software Movement, was founded in 1984, but its inspiration comes from the ideals of 1776: freedom, community, and voluntary cooperation. The "free" in "free software" refers to freedom, not price; specifically, that all computer users should have the freedom to study, change, and redistribute the software that they use."

"I was disturbed, because Allchin suggested that open source is somehow "un-American." To have the discussion about alternate business models descend to such a level demonstrates either that Allchin was quoted out of context, or that Microsoft has truly grown desperate in its fear of the competitive threat from Linux."

"After studying Apple's new source code license, the APSL, I have concluded that it falls short of being a free software license. It has three fatal flaws, any of which would be sufficient to make the software less than free."

"For the past 10 years, we (embedded engineers) have lived in the wake of the PC and Windows (WINTEL). I feel that the PC is taking a market-driven path that we will no longer be willing or able to follow. Linux today has everything we need and will only keep getting better. It’s virtually free and open-sourced. And, Linux is text-based so the compilers and editors really scream."

"In fact, Windows (and the Mac OS) was invented in order to escape the blinking command line cursor. So why ever, even in a more stable operating system, would I choose to go back to it? Yet, that is what Linux use demands. No thank you. With all its faults, I'll stick with Windows."

"I have been running Linux for two years now and, in that time, have spent $0 on it. Linux IS free, and will always be free. Free to download, free to use and free to duplicate. Nothing Microsoft can do will stop that, and really, this is why statements like these are being made."

Open source coders can happily hack away in isolation, but if the Linux and open source community is to grow -- and finally reap some desktop apps -- somebody has to succeed on the business end.

"The insidious thing about Free software, the really subversive part, is that it takes so little to start writing it. Anyone with a few tools, spare time, and the wherewithall to start hacking can. Witness the long listings of low-version-number IM clients and MP3 players on software announcement sites. People like to code."

"While the search for truly workable open source business models remains a challenge, the SSH experience offers a textbook case of a business practice that, from what I can see, is doomed to fail."