It is fair if Bill Gate pays the people who have helped people

[Frank Situmorang]

Hello,

I am very thankful to all people who already helped me in developping
database.
the Company where I work should buy 15 liscences of MSAccess to enable users
to use the database that I developed.

Does Bill pays the people who already give lots of help in this forum?

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

No. MVPs and others here, volunteer their time. In my case, I was helped 15
years ago when I started out in Access. Within 5 years I was earning more as
a database developer than I had ever earned previously. I've been happy to
return my good fortune by helping others. I don't need or want any pay for
the help I give either here or on any of my websites. I also lead several
SIGs (Special Interest Groups) where I give instruction in a classroom
setting. I've been an MVP for about 8 years now and I'm glad to help others
as I was helped.

 

[Boss]

The help which i got in this forum is "priceless"..

Thanks to all..!!

Boss

 

[George]

Like Arvin, my participation in forums and newsgroups is an attempt to pay
back the community for all the help I've received over the years. I can't
add anything to what he's said in that regard.

However, in an indirect way, I do think MS does "pay" us all by continuing
to develop produce, and sell us high quality software--like Access--at a
reasonable cost, which allows us to earn a decent living using that
software.

George

 

[David W. Fenton]

Finally, Bill does not pay the people in this forum who help other
users.

Er, don't MVPs get certain free software?

 

[Larry Linson]

Er, don't MVPs get certain free software?

MVP's are not paid. The MVP Program is described at
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com.

The U.S. government would be all over the program like a cheap suit, to
extract their "just due" if there were any question about "gifts of nominal
value" being "pay".

I've gotten free software as a door prize at my user group meetings, but
that wasn't "pay", either.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Er, don't MVPs get certain free software?

Almost all of the software we get is for development purposes only. We
cannot use it in production. A lot of the free software that we get is
either beta, or not directly usable. For instance, I received a copy of
Commerce Server for development purposes only. As you may well understand,
it's still in the sleeve. I'd give it to you, but the license, should I
choose to accept it, is non-transferable.

Besides, all that is trivial compared to the value of the time for the
services we give. If we were paid for the value of those services, we all
could buy all the software we needed and at least a new Corvette, even after
the taxes.

Since I've been an MVP for about 8 years now, I know most of the Access MVPs
and many of those in other product groups, and I'd bet that almost all of
them do it because they love their product, they really like to help folks,
and they have a feeling that they are giving back some of their good
fortune.