[ Thanks to Tony Mobily
for this link. ]
“Technical needs in the immediate aftermath of the South Asian
tsunami disaster of 2004 put software development and distribution
methods into sharp focus for relief groups. When volunteers were
immediately available to help coordinate relief efforts, access to
software slowed them down. It was evident that traditional
commercial software distribution had broken down. It was
untenable.“The free software distribution model, on the other hand,
requires absolutely no modification to make tools available when
people need them. Free software tools such as available in a
typical GNU/Linux distribution do not have to suspend their normal
distribution and development methodologies to help volunteers who
need software immediately…”