![Picture of Kael Shipman](/sites/default/files/pictures/me_0.jpg)
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Chicago
I'm a lover of the magic of open source and open concepts. I'm forever in awe of the millions of people around the world who combine brilliance and vision to produce some of the most important infrastructure we have today. From coders to project managers, documentors to fundraisers, translators to designers, the world of open source is one of idealism, action and progress. I'm thrilled to be following along in the footsteps of such extraordinary humans, and I hope someday to rise to the high standard that the community has set for the Open Source Way!
Authored Comments
The cost of a virtual private server these days is as low as $17 per month (less than my phone bill, and probably less than many devs spend on coffee). I think we need to recognize VPSes as money well spent. Also, it seems perfectly conceivable to me that an open-source hosting company might emerge someday soon, offering at-cost VPSes to open-source projects (idea! wink wink!).
I don't know if I buy this definition of "alternative" as "not the main one". I do agree that that's certainly one use of the term, but I've come to fully internalize a notion of "there is no main one", and thus when I see "alternative", I simply think, "one of many options".
I think this is reflected in sites like AlternativeTo.net, which has no hierarchy, but allows users to find similarly-functioning applications for *any* program, and in Ubuntu's own `alternatives` system, which allows admins to specify which of various versions of a program they would like to use by default.
I like the shake-up of the "mainstream" definition of alternative, though! Thanks for the article!