Sometimes there is truth buried even in the most sentimental old cliché. Think about this one, for instance: The best things in life are free. It's true! What are the best things? Most people would agree on one or more of the following: Love, art, music, happiness and comics. And these things can't be bought with mere money. They're floating around in the air just waiting for you. All you have to do is to tune your mind (or radio, in the case of music) to the right frequency.
Information wants to be free
In a consumerist society like ours, giving something away free of charge is an almost subversive thing to do. Onna de Internet some very good bands have sites allowing you to download their tunes, while other music is distributed without any permission from the creators. In the streets amazing art exhibitions take place every day. Just open your eyes. And best of all: really good art exists only in the mind, and how can anyone charge you for that?
In software development, the open source movement (or whatever you want to call it) is based on the idea that freely distributed programs with public source code will lead to faster, better and safer products.
(Intellectual) property is theft
Open source takes its ideals from the scientific world. There, researchers publish their findings for other scientists to base their research on, allowing the different fields to develop more rapidly than they would if everyone kept their ideas and results to themselves.
However, this is more and more becoming an outdated picture. Nowadays it is not uncommon for scientists to have their own companies or work for big corporations that restrict what may be published. Findings that can be profitable are patented and the rest is kept locked in, to not give the competitors anything for free.
T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L.
On the other hand, maybe it's true what some people say: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. I know for sure that even if you don't have to pay a penny to read this issue of Wonderful Comics, I have toiled in the sweat of my brow over ink bottles, scanners and keyboards. So, this one's on me and the other creators.
Adam
