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| author | P. J. McDermott <pjm@nac.net> | 2011-11-20 21:00:54 (EST) |
|---|---|---|
| committer | P. J. McDermott <pjm@nac.net> | 2011-11-20 21:00:54 (EST) |
| commit | f93de25548c497b3dba1a9bce61d5850357d77bf (patch) | |
| tree | 6cfe04e95fd741b810489590cc1f616450558778 | |
| parent | 5b3fa1c2a486c34a5d4bdf822b65e94d6580f2ff (diff) | |
| download | fs-os-talk-f93de25548c497b3dba1a9bce61d5850357d77bf.zip fs-os-talk-f93de25548c497b3dba1a9bce61d5850357d77bf.tar.gz fs-os-talk-f93de25548c497b3dba1a9bce61d5850357d77bf.tar.bz2 | |
Write about commercial support and distribution.
| -rw-r--r-- | researched-outline.txt | 51 |
1 files changed, 51 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/researched-outline.txt b/researched-outline.txt index 8db2b67..e329546 100644 --- a/researched-outline.txt +++ b/researched-outline.txt @@ -222,7 +222,58 @@ commercial free software and not have to reinvent wheels 2. support + proprietary software + only (C) holder can understand and support it + support is a monopoly + found a bug in MS Windows? + only recourse: pay $49 to send MS an e-mail or $59 to call MS + free software + everyone is allowed to understand and support it + support is a free market + competition in free software support + companies and individuals must please clients + clients are free to go elsewhere for support + examples: + RMS made custom changes to his programs + made more money than he ever did before + Cygnus Solutions + founded 1989 + maintained many parts of GNU development toolchain + offered commercial support for GNU software + very successful, had an 18-month waiting list + merged with Red Hat, Inc. between 1999 and 2000 + Red Hat + sells support for GNU/Linux + revenue expected to reach $1 billion + Canonical, Ltd. + founded in 2004 + maintains and supports numerous free software projects + including the Ubuntu GNU/Linux operating system + Nokia Corporation + used to provide official support for Qt framework + but earlier this year, sold support business to Digia Plc. + Digia one of 27 "Qt Partners": + companies that work w/ Nokia to provide comm. support for Qt + AdaCore + company run by original developers of GNAT + officially supporting GNAT since 1994 + consultants supporting Debian GNU OSes + 672 companies and 109 individuals in 64 countries + thousands of companies and individuals support free software + not a select handful of monopolists like MSFT and Adobe 3. distribution + many people sell free software + that is, they charge a fee for distribution + even of other people's work + software copyright licenses must allow this practice + in order to be considered free and open-source + often a cost in making and distributing copies of software + e.g. cost of burning and shipping discs + people may just want to earn some money for performing a moral act + (sharing freedom) + might contribute some of the profits back to the developers + in the 1980s, RMS charged a fee for copies of Emacs he shipped on tape + made about $1300/mo just distributing copies of one free program Jargon-meaning http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html |