a...@pythoncraft.com (Aahz) writes: > Ben Finney <ben+pyt...@benfinney.id.au> wrote: > >[It is impractical to] sell free software like selling loaves of > >bread, but that's a much more limited case and a far cry from your > >claim [that it's impractical to sell free software]. Selling free > >software is quite practical and a good way to fund development of > >software that otherwise wouldn't be written as free software. > > From my POV, if you're not selling COTS, you're really selling support > and consulting services, because that's what keeps your competitors > from just picking up your software and reselling it for cheaper. BTDT.
This thread has revealed some staggering gulfs in concepts as held by different people. For example, I don't think it's at all germane to the definition of “sell FOO” that “your competitors can pick up the FOO and resell it cheaper”. Whether they can or not, that doesn't change that fact that one is selling FOO. Moreover, I don't try to prevent my competitors from reselling the software (so long as they don't misrepresent who holds copyright or further restrict the terms). That's part and parcel of the freedoms in the software. Indeed, I find that helps the customers trust me more and tend to come back when they want something else new; and my customers are free to show others the solutions I've already implemented. Thus is an ongoing business relationship crafted, including return customers and referrals for new work. It really is practical to sell free software. -- \ “It's dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” | `\ —Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire | _o__) | Ben Finney -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
