Free Beer Doesn't Sell

摘要

Open-source software is customizable, expandable and available at low or no cost. Closed-source software is difficult to customize or expand and often is exorbitantly expensive. As a result, businesses and governments worldwide are beginning to make extensive use of open-source technologies, in some cases going as far as introducing legislation to mandate its use. You'd expect developing nations to be leading this charge for free, high-quality software, but you'd be wrong. In Geekcorps' experience supporting over a hundred IT projects in developing nations, open source is a surprisingly difficult sell. The chief mistake in marketing to the developing world is an overemphasis on "free beer". The expression comes from Richard Stallman's demand that software be "free as in 'free speech', not free as in 'free beer'". Emphasizing the low cost of open-source software often backfires. The history of technology transfer and appropriate technology projects includes efforts that dumped obsolete technology on developing nations when it was no longer marketable in developed nations. As a result, inexpensive and inferior are often falsely equated.