Question: I want to use Linux but it's free and I've heard, "'Free' is not a viable business model." How can I put my trust in a Linux operating system if the developers don't charge for it? Answer: Offering substantial products and services that provide value for free only becomes a financial problem when the developer has no other revenue source to support the free product. Here is how Linux accomplishes that. Episode Time Stamps 00:00 Going Linux #436 · Welcome to Linux! Pt7 - How Can Linux Be Free? 02:16 The question: Free isn't a valid business model. How can open source software be provided at no charge? 04:12 Microsoft's business model 06:07 Google's business model 06:32 The Killed By Google list 07:40 Add-ons and 'crapware' to provide some missing features in Windows 11:14 Offering free software is not unusual 11:44 Examples of free Linux distributions backed by businesses with solid revenue models 14:12 How open source software features are made available for other open source software to adopt 17:13 Why Linux is not going away! 18:53 Linux provides significant value to its users 22:06 Not everything that's free is bad 25:59 Switching to Linux is much like switching to macOS, Windows, or ChromeOS 26:47 Linux fights planned hardware obsolescence 28:29 goinglinux.com, goinglinux@gmail.com, +1-904-468-7889, @goinglinux, feedback, listen, subscribe 29:30 End