I mostly agree with you, except Sun went under because it couldn't monetize (there's that word again) those free products (that and the server market tanked/changed on them). As long as Sun was making 50% margin on servers, they could fund all these projects/acquisitions. When they had to rely on this wonderful open-source market, they couldn't.
Frankly, I think it's time to pay for software or software services again. I'd gladly pay $5 to $2o (depending on size or complexity) per year for quality, bug-free, ad-free software/services and its updates. And yes, I pay $20 to yahoo to get ad-free email that (hopefully) doesn't sell my information down the road. Is that even an option with gmail? When you think about it, the only person getting money for you being on the internet (with all the software required to do so) is your ISP--is that right? I'd prefer to pony up some money to get a better experience, but in most cases, that isn't even possible.
The way I see it, there should be a single service, something like ninite, where I can give my CC once and manage all my subscriptions/updates. Then it would provide me the software by negociating with the author/owner for a painless, ad-free, crap-free binaries/subscription/whatever. Why is that still science fiction?
Frankly, I think it's time to pay for software or software services again. I'd gladly pay $5 to $2o (depending on size or complexity) per year for quality, bug-free, ad-free software/services and its updates. And yes, I pay $20 to yahoo to get ad-free email that (hopefully) doesn't sell my information down the road. Is that even an option with gmail? When you think about it, the only person getting money for you being on the internet (with all the software required to do so) is your ISP--is that right? I'd prefer to pony up some money to get a better experience, but in most cases, that isn't even possible.
The way I see it, there should be a single service, something like ninite, where I can give my CC once and manage all my subscriptions/updates. Then it would provide me the software by negociating with the author/owner for a painless, ad-free, crap-free binaries/subscription/whatever. Why is that still science fiction?