[ubuntu-uk] Manchester Free Software : RMS Video

[alan c]

Matthew Wild wrote:
> On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 2:56 AM, Thomas Ibbotson
> <thomas.ibbotson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> However, I am also in favour of credit being given where it's due, and
>> allowing creators/inventors to profit from their work. If someone has
>> put in the time and effort to create or improve something that other
>> people would like to use, surely they should be allowed to profit from it.
>>
> 
> Credit is always given, the original creators hold the copyright. They
> are also not stopped from profiting from it...
> 
>> Now I know free software does not mean "free as in beer", so it is
>> perfectly possible for creators/inventors to profit from their work by
>> charging a fee for it initially. However once it has been bought by one
>> person, who is then free to distribute it and modify it, there is no
>> guarantee that the original creator can obtain anything further.
>>
> 
> ...how they profit is another matter.
> 
>> In his talk Richard mentions several ways that this could be achieved
>> for free software. He mentions the fact that developers could provide
>> support, at cost, for the software, much like canonical do for ubuntu.
>> However this is not rewarding the original work, this is rewarding the
>> additional effort of supporting the software, expended above and beyond
>> the original effort to develop the software in the first place.
>>
> 
> Actually Ubuntu was not wholly developed by Canonical. They used free
> software to build it, and this is where they gain (as everyone does)
> from making their software free (as in freedom). In effect I see it
> as:
> 
> Loss
>   * They potentially lost profit from direct sales of the product
> 
> Gain
>   * Fast development time (because they could use existing Free software)
>   * No costs involved for using this tried, tested, external software in theirs
>   * They benefit from a (potentially) unlimited number of developers,
> which they don't have to pay
>   * They benefit in various ways from the community that builds around
> their project

Community benefit:
I am very well motivated to help with things ubuntu, representing in 
person, marketing, advocacy etc as almost  a full time activity (I 
have the time) entirely at my own cost. I may be a bit unusual but I 
am skilled and as effective as I was when I was reasonably well paid 
by a large water utility for a full time job. I have a passion rooting 
for ubuntu and free software. What would happen if it became too 
proprietary? This passion would quickly evaporate. My imagined 
replacement would be expensive, maybe with less motivation. I would 
probably be lost as a customer too, and all my influenced contacts. 
That is a big downtrade I think.
I do understand about wanting payment for programming work, (which 
could of course be software libre any way?) but some large old style 
companies are finding things may not be going their way.
-- 
alan cocks
Kubuntu user#10391