Re: [EE]: opinion on Willem programmer?

> If you really wanted to do something "good" for the end users then I think
> using the GPL is not the right approach.  The GPL does force source of any
> software that is derived from it to be open.  However to many that
> restriction is too costly, so they don't use GPL code.  In the end the 
> goal
> of better and lower cost choices for the end users has not been served as
> well as it could have been.

Amen, amen, and again I say amen!

GPL and similar licenses are, in the long run, inhibitory. They prevent the 
development and distribution of much useful software.

Example:

I am a company and I want to develop a really cool program that does "X". My 
business model/planning tells me that the only way I can make money off this 
program is to keep it closed (which, IMNSHO is _very_ often the case).

Now there very conveniently already exists GPLed code that does 90% of X, so 
I can develop my product for Z dollars and sell each copy for (Z/100) 
dollars. Except of course, I can't use this route because an open source 
distribution model just won't work.

On the other hand, I could develop the whole product from scratch for 10Z 
dollars, but now I'd have to sell it for $Z/10 dollars, 10 times as much. Of 
course, the market won't support that price because end-users can get a 90% 
solution for 1/10 the price.

So, as a result I don't build the product, and the end-users' lose the 
ability to get a better solution to their problem at a reasonable cost. And 
of course, I lose out on the opportunity to make a reasonable profit 
building and selling the product.

-- Bob Ammerman
RAm Systems

-- Bob Ammerman
RAm Systems

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