I have been involved in some projects using open source software recently. There is a common problem among these different software: no good documentation, or no documentation at all! I was wondering why there was no documentation, unlike other softwares. Then I realize, it is because no one was paid to do so. Having been amazed by the fact that open source community was so active and happening, I had a very high expectation of their software, enjoying the freedom of changing source code and the free of charge. However, some problems also appeared when I encounter difficulties using or debugging the software. Sometimes there is no one to help you! The reason is simple, because they are not paid to do so! Unlike commercial softwares, where strong support is provided by the company, these free software is maintained by people with passion, but they are not paid. Passion may fade gradually, but if you know there is a company to provide support, you can take it easy when you got problems. Thus I didn't see a bright future of open source projects, be it linux, or openoffice, or other projects. No money, no motivation! If you are starved, do you still have the passion to write a free software when MS offers you a job to write software for them? Open source is like communism, it's too ideal that it cannot be achieved in the near future. Or should I say it will never come because there is no motive for people to maintain open source software? Red Hat continues making a lot of money, which is a strange phenomenon. I don't understand when there are free Linux OS why people are willing to pay 2000 US$ to buy the RHEL OS. Just to get the technical support? Software should not be free, at least should not be free for commercial use, thus the source code should not be released. Alternatively, it can be free for normal users, for educational purpose, or for evaluation. But when it is used by companies to generate money, the software should not be free. It is a basic respect to intellectual property. At yourself: when you are starved, are you going to write a free software for fun or write a software for a living?