Re: [Fsuk-manchester] RMS on Swedish Pirate Party vs Free Software

[Paul Waring]

Pater Mann wrote:
> The simple fact is that it is very hard to make money from free
> software.

I think it would be more accurate to say that it is hard to make money 
directly from free software - broadly speaking there are four ways to 
benefit from free software:

1. Selling the software - either boxed sets (e.g. what most of the Linux 
distributions used to do) or non-free licences (e.g. Qt).

2. Selling support - what most of the big Linux companies (RedHat, 
Novell etc.) now do.

3. Using the software - if you use a particular piece of free software 
as part of your business, you can benefit from supporting it and the 
improvements which the community provides. This is easier to justify if 
the software is a standard tool, such as an accounts system, which is 
useful to your company but doesn't give you a sufficient competitive 
advantage to want to keep it closed source.

4. Skills and jobs - there are lots of people out there who have got 
jobs because they have helped with a popular free software project, 
either through making connections or having it on their CV.

Paul

--
Paul Waring
http://www.pwaring.com