hi,
i just want to clarify a few things:
1. i'm great fan of free software, i only use free software, when i program i program free software and i apologize heavily for writing linux instead of gnu/linux (just sometimes happens since its shorter)
2. i don't doubt that you can earn money with free software, i know that quite some ppl are quite successfull with that.
3. all i want to say is: i doubt that free software will ever be more than a market niche in our economy. i already explained the reasons and the fact that the knowledge is shared and because of that the product would be cheaper doesn't change it. you can also reuse proprietary software and if sharing knowledge would make economic sense, then why is "intellectual property" (intellectual monopoly) more important today then ever before? why do all companys keep their knowledge secret, why are new laws inveted to stop us from sharing our wisdom? economy would never be so stupid to demand something which is bad for itself! they know exactly what they're doing but they also know that this is the best way to gain profit.
i really wish it would be so easy like many of you think it is... i just doubt it.
i personally think that the free software movement should not only hope that free software will one day be discovered by the big economy, i think we should criticise the economy for being unable to really deal with it.
i think that this is more important than fighting whether one has to say linux or gnu/linux, this is totally irrelevant anyway because ppl will always say linux since it sounds better and is shorter. i don't doubt that gnu/linux is the more correct name.
regards, moritz