The problem is here: Say I need a small business accounting app and I like GPL software. Well I could sit around and wait for someone to develop one, try to develop one myself if I had the skills, or give up in despair.
The third option, if you like your business more than the GPL, is to buy an accounting package. If I put my money into a pool and waited for the pool to grow enough to attract developers to get the software written, I'm probably out of business. The business owner you described is a straw man.
And how much money do I put into the pool? If I put in more money, can my needs come first? If someone comes in later, do their needs take precedence over mine? What if the project needs $100K to get a decent accounting package out in one year, tested, documented and with a support staff. When do I put in my money and how much? Do I pony up $10K in Jan or $1K in Dec? What if its late? I think we just went over the problem of the commons in a different context.
So why would I pay a middleman who will deliver a tested, boxed product with a support staff and a software escrow option? Because I'm in the business of business, not in the business of supporting the GPL. Because while people don't need Microsoft or other proprietary software companies, they do need software tools to get the job done. So we understand that businesses need the job done, they don't need software companies per se, no matter what their licensing. Microsoft and other proprietary companies happen to have that software on the shelf for sale today.
If you are asking for anything other than fair payment in exchange for goods and services rendered, you're begging. If you're asking businesses to make a leap of faith in order to use your license of choice rather than get the job done today, you're begging. Linux doesn't need to beg if it doesn't want to, but it could be forced to by deliberately becoming unprofitable serving a market that doesn't need it while ignoring others that do.
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Re:Not Begging
Posted by: DCallaghan on July 25, 2002 04:22 AMSay I need a small business accounting app and I like GPL software. Well I could sit around and wait for someone to develop one, try to develop one myself if I had the skills, or give up in despair.
The third option, if you like your business more than the GPL, is to buy an accounting package. If I put my money into a pool and waited for the pool to grow enough to attract developers to get the software written, I'm probably out of business. The business owner you described is a straw man.
And how much money do I put into the pool? If I put in more money, can my needs come first? If someone comes in later, do their needs take precedence over mine? What if the project needs $100K to get a decent accounting package out in one year, tested, documented and with a support staff. When do I put in my money and how much? Do I pony up $10K in Jan or $1K in Dec? What if its late? I think we just went over the problem of the commons in a different context.
So why would I pay a middleman who will deliver a tested, boxed product with a support staff and a software escrow option? Because I'm in the business of business, not in the business of supporting the GPL. Because while people don't need Microsoft or other proprietary software companies, they do need software tools to get the job done. So we understand that businesses need the job done, they don't need software companies per se, no matter what their licensing. Microsoft and other proprietary companies happen to have that software on the shelf for sale today.
If you are asking for anything other than fair payment in exchange for goods and services rendered, you're begging. If you're asking businesses to make a leap of faith in order to use your license of choice rather than get the job done today, you're begging. Linux doesn't need to beg if it doesn't want to, but it could be forced to by deliberately becoming unprofitable serving a market that doesn't need it while ignoring others that do.
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