Why do we do it for free?
by Alexander Lawrence

Actually this is the first time I'm asking myself this question.Why do hundreds of people worldwide invest so much time and love in something they give for free?

I cannot speak for all but in my case it happened because I didn't quite like what MS has given us in the basic product so I sat down and created my first panel. I liked what I've done and I wanted to share it with others. I figured that there might be more who would find that first panel useful. And surprisingly there were. I enjoyed that so much that I did another one and then another one, better that the first and so on - but still free. It just doesn't sound right to take money for something you really love doing - I guess every one of you has had that feeling at least once. Without being fully aware, panel making became a hobby, and took a sizable portion of the free time I spend with my family, or on other more "useful" activities.

Friends admire the graphics (maybe because they have no clue what I'm talking about), and don't see why I collect every piece of cockpit pictures or posters and file them carefully. They balk at my answer to the "how much are you asking for this?" question. It is a long time since we've had a barbecue together. My five year old son has given up calling "Daddy, diner is ready. Mommy is saying you get to the table NOW". My invariable answer is "In a minute". Lately, he says "Daddy, don't say "in a minute". I know it means a looong time".

At work some close friends ask how I can still work between 22:00 and 2:00 after a 14 hours real job. I am sure that this is not only my story. Very closely, it is the story of many Chrisses, Erics, Staffans, Alains and Andis, in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Japan - everywhere. It is the story of aircraft and scenery developers. It is the story of utilities and addons creators. We invest a good part of our free time - OUR time - and give it for free.

Do you remember the feeling you had when somebody copied from your test paper and got an A and you got a B? What about when a peer at work "forgets" to mention you as the originator of a great idea and implies it is his own? I guess you understand how we feel when somebody else gets credit or even worse, makes money on what it took so many little sacrifices to create and give it for free to the community.

The results of this unfairness start to show. Former freeware authors go shareware, and later commercial. Others stop creating altogether. So who is the real winner here? No one.

So I am asking everybody: developers and reviewers. Please give fair credit and recognition. This is the only currency we trade in. And publishers; "Don't copy that floppy" is our slogan too.

Alexander Lawrence
virtu_al@netvision.net.il <mailto:virtu_al@netvision.net.il>