open source
one can wonder how open source can possibly work. i mean you work on this stuff. and just give it away for free. it doesn't make any sense. how can you possibly gain doing this? heh. imagine you're a computer user. and the software you need to use sucks. i don't mean it could be improved. i mean it sicks the biiiiiiiiig duck. you could spend your time fighting with the damn thing. and rebooting your computer. or restoring from a backup. but, you're a coder. you could spend some time making a better mousetrap. you obviously don't have enough time to finish the thing. but you publish it as open source. where some other coder finds it. and advances it in his spare time. eventually, a small army of disgruntled coder/users have created a product that can compete with the commercial garbage. now suppose you're not a coder. you're just some guy with a checkbook. you could keep doing what you've always had to do in the past. or you can thumb your nose at the corporate giant. and make a small donation to the open source foundation. the bloated company now has legitimate competition. and motivation to improve their product. everyone wins.