The Linux Operating System may be a open source community with lots of great code coming from people that write code after dinner once in a while if they have time and an interest in the project but when it comes down to it some of the developers need to be paid.
Having been a Linux Document Project contributor and having worked with Hundreds of Charities since the early 1990’s …. I don’t want to sound sour here but I look at some of my fellow developers and wonder what would have been different if I had not spent so much of my time on projects without pay…
You can imagine that every person that does not begin a widget or project or hand hold people with much of their free time eaten up has the same thoughts and honestly when it comes down to it if a large business like Oracle or even some other organizations tend to profit from our contributions and also rely on our contributions it is fair that they also help us.
I am not saying people should get rich while doing good work that benefits many… I am saying when that contribution helps a company or organization over time that person should be recognized in the same way that there are many people employed by Charities or Non-profits that get paid to do the same things or often less important work.
If Oracle bought Sun then they also bought the commitments that Sun had developed over time.
If Sun’s or Oracle’s or anyone’s bottom line was improved in any way either directly by innovation or through community building as much of the accessibility crew members produced then they should be valued.
Crap Apple Sucks as a technology business but without Jobs or All the Hype where would they be? They would have been long gone just like SGI and Sun… No one would buy their computers… I sure wouldn’t AND I was a graphic designer for about 10 years…
So … it may seem like nothing that people with special needs like blind users or people with other special needs won’t have advocates they once had because you never use the options yourself… but then again think about it…
When you get older wouldn’t you like to be able to have larger fonts or readers or other services that can help you continue to enjoy your computer even if you are not using it for business reasons anymore….
And wouldn’t it be reasonable to hire someone with great ideas that may just need some extra help???
I MEAN CRAP MAN as a support person how many times have I had to tell people in high level positions how to do shit a 7 year old kid knows how to do… And that has noting to do with an executives ability to FRICKEN PRESS F-1 to get help or RTFM or just have a clue…
Well there are a lot of people out there that don’t need the help an executive needs … ALL THEY NEED is some options for their keyboard or help with enlarging the screen or a screen reader … They do great work .. they just need options that can help them do it…
Im sure the people errr EXECUTIVES at Oracle are saying who gives a crap there are a Billion people in India or China that Oracle can outsource to so what does it matter to us…
Yea that’s about it…
See on the one hand you have assholes like Bill Gates that is giving 10 Billion dollars to Africa while millions of tech workers in the USA can’t get good jobs … AND he is not leaving the money to his own kids…
And on the other hand you have assholes like the people at Oracle that think helping blind and other disabled people become productive and have meaning is not worth a few people…
Gates is going to dump that money into Africa and it will be GONE and nothing will come from it…
I MEAN CRAP MAN Larry Ellison is worth 22.5 BILLION and he takes home 100 Million dollars in salary and options every year…
And that fucker can’s spare base salary of some people who are doing work that will change the lives of many many people in a very significant way??
THESE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING OUT OF THEIR MINDS
Larry … maybe God will forgive you… and your rich ass slimeball buddies .. but he knows… he knows.
I hear Gates is trying to perfect pushing a Camel through the eye of a needle …
