GPL, BSD, Opensource/Free Software movement.

I've be a mindless supporter of these movements for years now not because I was a developer myself but because most of them provided me with a lot of useful free software.

However now that I'm becoming more of a programmer I'm questioning the ideology behind these movements.

1. For which situations are these intended? For every developer?
2. Doesn't it go against the developer himself? How can he secure profit while still sustain such projects?

Just willing to learn.
Thanks.

>>14
Actually it's more accurately socialism, which is egalitarianism since the GPL secures that code licensed with it remains free. The means of production rests mainly in the hands of developers, not some oligarchic corporation or institution that decides whether or not the source code of its programs shall be released.

One could argue that Stallman is communistic in his approach of promoting free software, since he sees proprietary software as akin to private property, which both socialist and communist ideologues sought to abolish; Stallman has stated more than once that proprietary software morally should not exist at all. You could also add that the producers of free software are the struggling proletariat, while the profiteers and owners of proprietary software the bourgeoisie.

Those stressing for GNU/Linux to dominate the operating system market could be considered a "dictatorship of the proletariat" event, though in real life, this usually required a government of some sort, (maybe FSF could push such through?), though it may be possible that it could be done without such a need for one in the software world. And that's that.

Also, JEWS.