[Audacity-devel] Shareware and Free Software?

[Dave F. <dav...@co...>]

All,

Sorry for the spam, but I thought it might be best to just throw this out 
there.  ;)

I'm working on an article about shareware and free software, and I'm 
soliciting comments from anybody who's interested in commenting.  I'm 
basically hoping to answer the questions "Will Free Software kill shareware?" 
and "Does the world need shareware anymore?".

The premise of the article is that, to my view anyway, shareware is the *only* 
commercial software that depends on withholding the source code for making 
money.  (In fact, I know at least one shareware developer who gives up some 
of his source code as a value-add feature, so some shareware developers are 
looking at open source software and trying to figure out how it fits in with 
what they're doing)  All other commercial software can happily and peacefully 
become open source without affecting anybody's revenue (initially it would, 
of course, but after equilibrium is established nobody will care because the 
rich will still get richer and the poor poorer).  But shareware is different, 
and in many ways grew out of the same geek culture that has populated open 
source (or maybe i"m wrong about that).

So, if you'd like to comment on it, I'll need you to reply to me personally 
and identify whether or not you develop any commercial software and/or 
shareware and also if you work on open source software (for any lurkers that 
respond ;)  ), and if there are any companies and/or projects you'd like me 
to identify you with if I wind up using any of your comments.

In addition I have solicited comments from a prominent open source developer 
who also depends at least in part on income from shareware, and I know a 
couple of shareware developers I'll solicit comments on, so hopefully the 
article will be well-rounded (or at least as well-rounded as I'm capable of 
making it ;)  ).

And as always, if any of you want to have an open interactive discussion about 
it right here it's your perogative.  ;)

Thanks in advance,

Dave

-- 
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