The FSF ( Free Software Foundation )

Free software is a matter of liberty not price. You should think of "free" as in "free speech".
The Free Software Foundation (FSF), established in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free software, particularly the GNU operating system, used widely in its GNU/Linux variant. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues surrounding freedom in the use of software. You can read more about free software in our essays section, in the philosophy section of gnu.org, and in the pages of the independently published Free Software Magazine.


for More go to http://www.fsf.org/

Free is good but I hate the fine prints that says "Use at your won risk, limited or no support".......

magna but problems are also ur's.
I personally dont like the open source thing.
i know how much hard work and dedication it takes to build even the simpliest programs. and if i dont get paid for this. its really!!

i think everybody misinterpret the meaning of FSF

read it again
it says:

Free software is a matter of liberty not price. You should think of "free" as in "free speech".
The Free Software Foundation (FSF), established in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free software, particularly the GNU operating system, used widely in its GNU/Linux variant. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues surrounding freedom in the use of software. You can read more about free software in our essays section, in the philosophy section of gnu.org, and in the pages of the independently published Free Software Magazine.

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FSF means it wants the world to learn that, if u buy a piece of software u should have to right to modify it.. change it.. do whatever u want.. it does not say u have to distribute free softwares..

and about support.. if u go to redhat.com or any other sites.. like openoffice.org (a replacement for MS Office in Linux,Windows and other OS).. u can see that they sell support.. if u buy that, u will get official support and they r good.. infact very good.. other benefit will be.. as it is also a free software(in several times they have diff. versions, like free version, commercial version) .. there are thousands of ppls developing, modifying and helping each other.. they r a bunch of helpful ppls.. but its ur choice .. isnt it?