[ This should be obvious, but I feel like writing about it. Yes, Tim, I know I have two chapters that need editing, and more to write for the end of this month, but a guy needs a break, eh? -russ ] [ Stig, feel free to put this into your Open Source book, but be sure to credit the whole mailing list. I wouldn't understand free software half as well without the contributions of everyone on the list, um, who's contributed that is. -russ ] I think it's almost a truism that a free software business has to keep something proprietary. Unless you keep something proprietary, you have nothing to sell. You wouldn't be in business, then, you'd be a non-profit foundation. Proprietary things: 1) Reputation. 2) People's time. 3) Physical copies. 4) Some of your software. 5) Documentation. 6) Datasets. 7) Hardware. 1) You can sell your reputation. To an extent, that is what Redhat does when it sells boxed copies. Since you get the same CD's from CheapBytes, why else would someone pay extra for the Redhat copy? Support? That's #2. The pretty box, that's #3. The manual? That's #5. They don't add up to the full price. Everybody who sells branded anything uses this model. 2) You can sell people's time. This can be hand-holding, or doing the job for them, or designing a system for them using your software. It can be a custom version of the software. This is the Cygnus model. 3) You can sell physical copies of the software. Anybody who ships free software uses this model. It's the CheapBytes model, the Redhat model, the s.u.s.e model, the Cantaforda Lab model. Even though the customer could download it, there are distinct advantages to having a manufacturer-provided version. For one, any tainting happened at their end, whereas a downloaded version (particularly from a mirror) may have been hacked. For another, unless you download everything, you might go back for something more, or the source, and not find it there. 4) You could keep some of your software back, or retain some rights to the software. For example, if you use the GPL, then you retain the right to issue a version under a different copyright which might not require source distribution. Or if you use the Aladdin APSL, you can license the software for commercial distribution (other than what it usually allows). Or if you use the BitMover BitKeeper license, you retain the right to use the software (and obviously have a use license that requires free software developers to publish their changes, which they'd do anyway, but which proprietary developers won't). 5) You could sell documentation. This is the O'Reilly model for publishers, or the Pegasus Mail model for software developers. 6) You could sell extra data. This is the Id Software model. For years they have given away their software, and the first episode of Quake. They sell a slightly enhanced version of the software, as well as two more episodes. 7) You could sell hardware that is needed by the software. This makes most sense when the software is a driver, but it could be application software as well. For example, you could write a Linux GIS (Geographic Information Systems) application which relied on talking to a GPS device. Maybe there's a driver in-between, but that doesn't matter much. You could object to all of these by saying that they only work because of imperfect markets, because there is friction in the marketplace. Well, then, object to Pennzoil, Quaker State, Mobil, Jiffy Lube, Minit Lube, and everyone else who ameliorates friction in automobiles. Transaction costs are a part of the real world, and much money goes to people who can use them to help people. Of course, much money also goes to people who can overcome transaction costs as well. -- -russ nelson <rn-sig@crynwr.com> http://crynwr.com/~nelson Crynwr supports Open Source(tm) Software| PGPok | There is good evidence 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | that freedom is the Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | cause of world peace.