I just came across a post entitled “Free Software Has No Pirates“. The content of the post did not surprise me very much, so why am I making this post? Because what did surprise me was where I was reading it - on Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems weblog.

So why on earth would we give our OS away for free?

Because it’ll ensure those without the economic wherewithal to pay for it will still consider using it. Companies that suffered from piracy a decade ago now know the lesson well - piracy is a good thing so long as the pirates are folks who could never afford your products. So stop calling them pirates, call them users. Free software has no pirates. As I’ve said forever, there’s value in volume, even if you’re not paid for it.

Why I blog this? I blog Jonathan’s post because he is bold enough to say what others are too afraid to say. Piracy can be a good thing - in his words, “Free Software Has No Pirates”.