How? I use open source products! I sometimes tell others about what I use and why, as well.

We need to remember that, although an invisible user doesn’t *seem* like he’s contributing, he is. Every download, every use of an application, is a vote saying “I use this product!”

This isn’t to say that I don’t want to contribute in the sense that everyone means by contributing. I *do*! And this is another way invisible users contribute: some day I may have the time to fix a bug, or start a project, or do something else that will visibly contribute to the Open Source community. Because I use these products, a desire has been planted in my heart to want to do these things.

Finally, the more users that an open source project has, the greater the incentive for companies to support open source as well (this is especially so for drivers and Linux).

Thus, we should stop looking down on people who do nothing but use open source products as “freeloaders”; they have made an alliance to the community, and so long as the community proves itself worthy of that alliance, that alliance will strengthen the community in an invisible sort-of way!