The only way you’re going to lock people in is if you’re using non-standard file formats, a practice of which I am personally not a big supporter. What I am saying is that, as far as I have been able to determine, you can’t make money selling open source software. But if you flip the script and say that you are going to give away the software and sell the support (instead of selling the software and giving away support), then you have just proven my point … Of course, every software that is sold should come with support. Like it or not, most people are tuned into the station ‘WII FM’, or “What’s in it for me?” How many people do you think will pay you out of the kindness of their hearts? Answer: Not many. If your single reason for developing proprietary software is to lock customers in and “guarantee” yourself a profit that way, then you’ll have to forgive me for not buying from you on the basis that I suspect you’re developing proprietary software so that you can lock your customers in without having to develop GOOD software.ĭoes money that is given in goodwill have less value than money is extracted by the like-pulling-teeth method?Ĭertainly not, but it’s a little hard to run a business around a model where your customers don’t have to pay you if they don’t want to. Whoever would buy unsupported software is a plonker.Īnd I’m no longer going to let people who imply that proprietary software is a guaranteed way to make money (and therefore is unlike open source) get away with it any longer: neither is, otherwise OS/2 would still be thriving (to name one product). Sounds like you’re advocating the selling of software without the “pain” of having to do support.

Oh, I know what it means to advocates of free software, but what does it mean to a company selling software in a non service-oriented enviroment? If you don’t have something other than the software itself to sell, then what are the benefits of open sourcing your code so that it’s freely available to everyone? Sure, you’ve made a contribution to society, but at the cost of going out of business? Who’s buying open source software in this capacity, other than people doing it for goodwill? Unless you’re having some kind of software custom written, in which case you’re probably going to pay out the ass for it …ĭoes money that is given in goodwill have less value than money is extracted by the like-pulling-teeth method? Probably not – in fact it may have MORE value, since if people are HAVING to pay someone to do something against their will, they will be less happy about it than if they WANTED to pay them, and as we all know, bad news travels faster than good.

Microsoft visual foxpro 9.0