On 10/9/06, Rony ronbillypop@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
In GPL, anyone is free to use / distribute / resell / modify -> redistribute the modified code or give everything away for free. Before I explain my point, I want to distinguish between customized softwares made for individual clients and general purpose softwares for everyone, those that can be simply downloaded and used by anyone concerned.
In case of the former, one can charge any X amount from the client for making a customized package.
I think this market is as big, if not bigger, as the general purpose one. Indian IT companies for example have very less presence in the later one. Feel free to correct me if you think otherwise.
But in the latter, suppose I make a CAD software thats very good and
works just like the popular closed CAD software. I post it on the net under GPL and keep a price of some 100s of dollars. Now some smart alec who is out to ruin my business compiles my code and even acknowledges my good work and puts the package on the net for a free download. He is doing a perfectly legal thing as the GPL allows this. So how do I run my company when my work is available to others for free as in beer.
You can always charge for supporting your software. I am sure you knew that :p Customize it on demand. You can opt for dual licensing if that suits your business. And you have advantages of bazar style of coding over the closed source software.
And already some companies are doing that. Successfully till now.
Regards Aseem