... by those with deeper pockets, and doing work that makes their real job (supporting it) easier in the long-run, and more widely demanded.
This isn't the first example. WordPerfect predates Linux. They never asked for proof of purchase. They helped everyone. And WP experts found they were in wide demand because of it. Mighty M$ couldn't stand the fact that no one wanted Word, and that WP was rapidly growing into an entire office suite, and, through 'coopetition' with Novell, would soon have a competing OS, complete with integrated, enterprise-level networking.
So Bill and his rich, lawyer daddy pulled out all the stops in their effort to destroy WP in what may yet prove to have been a Pyrrhic victory. Certainly their proxy war (via SCO) against Linux has been necessarily subtler. And it may yet turn out that WP took the bullet that saved Linux.
But Linux proponents should be ever mindful of the history and the example: If you don't want to live in a Windows world, keep the model. You may feel like you're giving away the store, but, whether you sell support outright, or work in a Linux shop, you'll be benefiting by being employed, and it'll be with and because of Linux rather than Windows and M$.
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