D vs Java

[Unknown W. Brackets]

Free Software uses a different business model - I should know, I used to 
be quite involved with it.  The idea is to make money from the service, 
not from the product.

In other words, instead of charging $80 per license and spending huge 
amuonts on piracy prevention and litigation, give it away for free.  If 
your software is worth using, you'll have ten or a hundred times as many 
users.

Then, you charge for support - say, $50 a year.  This seems more fair. 
Other people cannot pirate service.  There's much less legal (but it's 
always still there.)  People keep paying, even if they stay with older 
versions.

Search Google for "Why free is better".  It's down at the fifth result 
now unless you use quotes, but you can read more of the idea there.

So, I have to respectfully disagree.

-[Unknown]


> Interesing point. I think the "Free Software" model is flawed. Programmers need
> to get paid. Apple with OSX have shown that people are willing to pay for a
> decent integrated experience - at a reasonable price. eg iLife and iWork are
> $79. A decent biz model would be the os(kernel and desktop) is free with the app
> suites paid for. With as much as the source code as possible available for
> viewing to keep the techies happy. Quite franky i find it reassuring that the
> company that makes things i use has a biz model - and can survive in the
> longterm.
> 
>