Slashdot Mirror
How Can Companies Profit While Giving Code Away?
An anonymous reader writes "In an almost philosophical essay replete with references to everyone from Larry Lessig and Tim Bray to to Professor Yochai Benkler, Sun Micrososystems evangelist Simon Phipps explores the metaphor of subscription (well, of course it's not just a metaphor any more from Sun's point of view) as the way that companies will make money off of deploying open source solutions. His distinction between OS developer and OS deployer is useful, but the crux is his contention that, with a "system" such as Sun has put together like the JDS, 'You don't buy the software from Sun - instead you subscribe to the editorial outlook.' It's an alluring analogy - Sun as the editor-in-chief of a 'publication' (JDS) with readers who may or may not choose to subscribe. Worth reading."
Advertising. Giving code away would give software the attributes of free-to-air broadcast media. And given that software usually needs regular updates for bug fixes, downloading would be more than just a one-time affair. Free-to-air broadcast media revenue comes from advertising. And although general advertising doesn't guarantee the audience will have any interest, the type of software being downloaded will give a better idea of what kinds of ads would interest their downloading demographic.
When you cancel a software subsciption, you can't use the code anymore.
No, that's not how it works. You subscribe to Sun's software, and you get new releases on a quarterly basis. If you cancel you still keep the software, but you don't get anymore updates.
You're confusing subscription with "maintenance" contracts.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Yes, I would pay for a free software subscription. I even occasionally click on google ads while searching to buy a particular item. But it would be a long time before I spend $299 that I might pay for a complex app that really meets my needs. Yes you can make money from side business if software itself is free, but probably not enough to cover writting software in the first place. Perhaps enough to cover distribution and minor bug fixes.
Of course support can be expensive, but that's only for corporate customers, and even then many free apps can be "supported" by googling for info. What kind of questions about Firefox are worth $100 a pop?
Let's just accept that most free software is written as a hobby, as an academic project or for personal use. Linus didn't set out to make great riches, and as far as I know he didn't. If you are trying to make money off either free or pay software that other people are willing to write and maintain as a hobby, well you should have known better.