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.

>>58
I don't understand why people get all up against that point of view
Because it's wrong. The GPL or any other free software license isn't public ownership. If I am running a piece of software that is licensed under the GPL, that is all it is, licensed. I do not have any of the rights provided to the 'owner' of a piece of 'intellectual property, save the ones explicitly granted by that license.

>>60 also true, it's no public domain or MIT.
It's an attempt to force code to stay public.