Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Why give it away, then?

Author:Brett Glass
Posted:8/25/2000; 11:39:00 AM
Topic:Next survey: Are you an open source developer?
Msg #:20225 (In response to 20224)
Prev/Next:20224 / 20226

If you could really sell it for $100 a copy that easily, then you're silly (or incredibly generous) to give it away for free.

But suppose that, for whatever reason, you do decide to give it away. You have already forfeited any money you could have made by selling it, and have set its market value at zero because anyone can get it for free. You have already limited your reward for your creativity to whatever credit, appreciation, or reputation you can gain from having written it.

Now, let's suppose someone comes along and makes additions and changes to the program which are sufficient to convince users to pay $100 for it. Does he owe you anything? No, he doesn't -- because the market value of the program when he received it was zero. Any increase in its market value, and hence any income he can make, is due to the value of his own additions. And in fact he'll probably have to add more than $100 of value to it, because there's a hidden transaction cost involved in paying for something (the hassle of getting out your credit card, filling out a form, etc.) which users don't to incur if they get something for free. It's also terribly, terribly hard to make a living selling something when there's a free version that's already good enough for most users. So, if he is able to get $100 for his version, then he had to add more than $100 worth of market value to it. He also has to incur marketing expenses, credit card processing fees, etc.... By the time he's done, a good chunk of the money he took in will be gone. He's got a tough row to hoe, as any commercial software vendor can tell you. (Ask Dave W. about this.)

So, that person is earning, with hard work and sweat, every penny he makes and more that he won't make.

Why be spiteful toward him? Why give it to an infinite number of end users but not to him? And, most importantly, why kill his chance to be creative and bring his new technology to the world (which you yourself may see as being worth $100 and gladly pay for)? If you GPL the code, you are undermining him and precluding his efforts from seeing the light of day. You're gaining nothing by doing this, but you're limiting your choice of products and contributing to an agenda which is designed to destroy the livelihoods of all programmers, including you. This does not seem to me to make good sense.

--Brett Glass

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