From cf29488c587334874cf491a01a1f74ba3ac7de45 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: P. J. McDermott Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:46:59 -0400 Subject: Merge branch 'new'. --- (limited to 'essays/commercial-free-software.html') diff --git a/essays/commercial-free-software.html b/essays/commercial-free-software.html deleted file mode 100755 index 2a9c724..0000000 --- a/essays/commercial-free-software.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,351 +0,0 @@ - - -

Commercial Free Software: Not an Oxymoron

-

- TODO: Clean up some wording, consider removing reference to Sencha Inc., - maybe mention Qt "open governance", mention transferable skills under - "Development", discuss application stores under "Distribution", and note - that most money in proprietary software comes from support rather than from - licenses. -

-

- Many people believe that money can't be made in free (as in freedom) - software. They believe that "free" means "noncommercial", and they might - compare "open-source" software and "commercial" software as if the terms - were opposite and mutually exclusive. This is in fact a logical fallacy; - specifically it is a - false - exclusionary disjunct. Software can be both free and commercial. If a - software copyright license allowed only noncommercial dealing, it would be - considered neither free nor open source. -

-

- Free software is in fact used commercially, and successful business models - around free software exist (and have existed longer than those around - proprietary software have). I've generalized the ways in which people make - money with free software into three broad categories: development, support, - and distribution. -

-

- Development -

-

- Modern economic models around free software closely resemble early economic - models around software. Keep in mind that software freedom is as old as - software itself. The "proprietarization", as I call it, of software began - around the 1970s, apparently pioneered by International Business Machines - (IBM). [1] It was furthered by companies like "Micro-Soft" and people like - Bill Gates, who in 1976 published an "Open Letter to Hobbyists" that - criticized people for sharing software without paying for it. [2] Before - that time, software was usually distributed with source code (some - universities even had policies of rejecting software that wasn't). Software - was often distributed either at no cost or at the cost of making and - shipping copies (at the time, on tapes). [3] Programmers were paid for the - time they spent writing software, not for copies of the software itself (or - really, licenses to use the software). [4] We see the same thing happening - today. Programmers are being paid to work on software, and the software is - distributed freely (that is, without unfair restrictions) and often even at - no charge. -

-

- I cite four major examples of this phenomenon of paid development of free - software. The first is Linux, a powerful and reliable high-performance - kernel found in everything from televisions and ATMs to large servers and - supercomputers (in fact, in over 90% of the world's 500 fastest - supercomputers [5]). As of 2010, over 70% of work done on Linux is done by - paid programmers. [6] At least 659 companies have supported the development - of Linux. [7] Compare that to the Windows NT kernel of Microsoft Windows, - the development of which is supported by only one company (the only one - legally allowed to do so). Additionally, AMD's recent hiring of two more - graphics driver developers shows that if you can improve a company's - freely-licensed software, they might hire you to do so officially. [8] -

-

- The next example is Qt, a flexible cross-platform application framework - popular in desktop, server, and embedded applications. [9] Qt is free - software, licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) - version 2.1. [10] Most of Qt's developers are employed by Qt Development - Frameworks, a subsidiary of Nokia Corporation since 2008. [11] -

-

- My third example is GNAT, a compiler for the Ada programming language that - is now a part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). It was originally - developed by the New York University under a $3-million contract awarded by - the United States Air Force in 1992. Under the requirements of the - contract, copyright on the software was assigned to the Free Software - Foundation and the software was released under the GNU General Public - License (GPL). [12] -

-

- Finally, I cite the GNU Project, a project announced in 1983 with the - now-successful goal of creating a complete free operating system. The Free - Software Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization founded by Dr. Richard - Stallman in 1985 to support the development of free software, hired - programmers to work on parts of the GNU system. GNU Bash (a popular and - user-friendly command shell now used in systems like GNU/Linux and Apple - Mac OS X), GLIBC (a C library), and GNU tar (an archiving program) were all - initially developed by paid programmers. [13] Yet all are free software, - and all are distributed often at no charge. -

-

- But you may think this doesn't make any sense. Why do companies pay for the - development of software for which few people pay? They must be losing lots - of money. Actually, they have a financial interest in having high-quality - software available, even if few or no people actually pay for it (but - remember that free software is a matter of freedom, not price). Many - companies sell support for free software; we'll see more about this later. - Many companies sell hardware with which free software is run (servers, - wireless network adapters, digital cameras, mobile phones, televisions, - cars, commercial airplanes, etc.). Many companies see free software as a - way to save time and money and not have to reinvent the wheel. If you want - something that serves a similar but not identical function as a proprietary - program does, you have to write a new program from scratch; a free program, - on the other hand, can simply be adapted to a new purpose. I suspect this - is part of AMD's motivation in supporting Coreboot, a free bootloader that - is faster and more flexible than proprietary BIOSes, in their server and - embedded products. [14][15][16] -

-

- Finally, most software is custom software, software that is written for a - single person or company and not meant to be released. This software is - technically commercial and often free in a trivial sense. If there's one - user, and that user has the rights to the software, then the software is - free for all its users. [13][17] -

-

- Support -

-

- With proprietary software, only the copyright holder is allowed to - understand it, and only they are allowed to support it. Support of - proprietary software is a monopoly. (And as it turns out, this allows - something like extortion. A phone call to Microsoft about Windows XP costs - $59; an e-mail costs $49. And soon they'll discontinue support for Windows - XP completely. [18] You have to pay to report a bug, then pay for an - "upgrade" to see if they've fixed it. [13]) With free software, everyone is - allowed to understand it and support it. Support of free software is a - free market. [13] There is competition in free software support. - Companies and individuals must please their clients, because their clients - are free to go elsewhere for support. -

-

- Individuals make money from making changes to free programs. They can - support their own programs (in fact, Richard Stallman made a lot of money - doing this, more than he ever did before [13]) or anyone else's free - programs. Again, like the earliest programmers, these individuals are paid - for doing work, not for the results of their work. The results of their - work are usually free software that does what their clients want it to do. -

-

- Individuals and companies sell consulting services and support contracts - for free software. The first company to officially do so was Cygnus - Solutions, founded in 1989. Cygnus maintained many parts of the GNU - development toolchain and offered commercial support for GNU software. - Between 1999 and 2000, Cygnus merged with Red Hat, Inc. [19][20] Red Hat - sells support for GNU/Linux, and its revenue is expected to reach $1 - billion this year, an impressive record. [21][22] Canonical Ltd., founded - in 2004, maintains and supports a number of free software projects, - including the Ubuntu GNU/Linux operating system. [23] Nokia Corporation - used to provide official support for the Qt framework, but earlier this - year it sold this support business to Digia Plc. [24] Digia is one of 27 - "Qt Partners", companies that work with Nokia to provide commercial support - for Qt. [25] AdaCore is a company run by the original developers of GNAT, - the aforementioned Ada compiler commissioned by the U.S. Air Force. AdaCore - has been officially supporting GNAT since 1994. [12][26] - Sencha Inc. also offers support for its own free software. - [27] The Debian project has a list of 824 consultants in 63 countries who - support the use of Debian GNU operating systems. [28] The Free Software - Foundation lists 86 individuals and companies offering support services in - free software. [29] Clearly, there is a successful business model here -- - one based in a free market. -

-

- Distribution -

-

- Additionally, some people sell free software. That is, they charge a fee - for distribution, even of other people's work. How is this morally - acceptable? A person can profit from someone else's hard work? Well, it may - go against the traditional free software economic model of paying for time - spent on work instead of for copies of the results of that work. But it's - not inherently unethical or even illegal. In fact, software licenses must - allow this practice in order to be considered free licenses. [30] In some - cases, there is a cost in making and distributing copies of software (e.g. - the cost of burning and shipping CDs). Or people may just want to earn some - money for performing a moral act (sharing freedom) and maybe even - contribute some of the profit back to the developers. [31] In the 1980s, - Richard Stallman himself charged a fee for copies of GNU Emacs (a text - editor he wrote) that he shipped on tape. In doing so, he made about $1300 - per month, a respectable income from something that's "free"! [13] -

-

- Conclusion -

-

- In short, programmers have always had ways to earn money with free - software, even before proprietary software existed. Most programmers who - write free software are in fact paid for their work, in a variety of ways. - The difference in free and proprietary software economic models is that - copyright holders (not necessarily even the developers) of proprietary - software profit from restricting users, while free software developers make - money in more ethical ways. Free software programmers are usually paid for - the time spent writing software, not for copies of the software (or more - accurately, the right to use the software). -

-

- References: -

-
    -
  1. - "Proprietary Software". Wikipedia. July 10, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software>. -
    2. -
  2. - "Open Letter to Hobbyists". Wikipedia. July 6, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists>. -
    3. -
  3. - Williams, Sam. "For Want of a Printer". Free as in Freedom. 2002: - O'Reilly. - <http://oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/ch01.html>. -
    4. -
  4. - The Codebreakers. 2006: Asia Pacific Development Information - Programme. Aired on BBC World. - <http://www.apdip.net/news/fossdoc>, - <http://www.archive.org/details/The-Codebreakers>. -
    5. -
  5. - "Operating system Family share for 11/2010". Top500 Supercomputing - Sites. Top500.Org. - <http://www.top500.org/stats/list/36/osfam>. -
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  6. - Kroah-Hartman, Greg; Corbet, Jonathan; and McPherson, Amanda. "Who is - Sponsoring the Work". Linux Kernel Development: How Fast it is Going, Who - is Doing It, What They are Doing, and Who is Sponsoring It. 2010: The - Linux Foundation. - <http://www.linuxfoundation.org/docs/lf_linux_kernel_development_2010.pdf>. - 12-13. -
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    8. -
  8. - Larabel, Michael. "AMD's New Open-Source Employees". Phoronix. July 5, - 2011. - <http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTYzOA>. -
    9. -
  9. - "Qt (framework)". Wikipedia. July 13, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_%28framework%29>. -
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  10. - "Qt Licensing". Nokia Corporation. - <http://qt.nokia.com/products/licensing>. -
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  11. - "Qt Development Frameworks". Wikipedia. July 8, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_Development_Frameworks>. -
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  12. - "GNAT". Wikipedia. May 9, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNAT>. -
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  13. - Stallman, Richard. "Free Software: Freedom and Cooperation". GNU - Project. Free Software Foundation, Inc. July 13, 2011. - <http://www.gnu.org/events/rms-nyu-2001-transcript.html>. -
    14. -
  14. - "Coreboot and Open Source Development". Business Blog. Advanced Micro - Devices, Inc. February 28, 2011. - <http://blogs.amd.com/work/2011/02/28/amd-coreboot/>. -
    15. -
  15. - "AMD to use Coreboot in Llano, other upcoming parts". Fudzilla. May 10, - 2011. - <http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/22677-amd-to-use-coreboot-in-llano-other-upcoming-parts>. -
    16. -
  16. - "Benefits". coreboot. January 15, 2008. - <http://www.coreboot.org/Benefits>. -
    17. -
  17. - "Categories of Free and Nonfree Software". GNU Project. Free Software - Foundation, Inc. July 13, 2011. - <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#PrivateSoftware>. -
    18. -
  18. - "Support Options". Microsoft Support. Microsoft Corporation. (No - portable URI. Go to - <https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=1173&st=1&wfxredirect=1&sd=gn>, - click "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition", select "Other", and - click "Continue".) -
    19. -
  19. - "Cygnus Solutions". Wikipedia. June 8, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_Solutions>. -
    20. -
  20. - "Marketing Cygnus Support -- Free Software history". September 27, - 2006. - <http://www.toad.com/gnu/cygnus/>. -
    21. -
  21. - Woods, Dan. "Red Hat At $1 Billion". CIO Central. Forbes.com LLC. - November 30, 2010. - <http://blogs.forbes.com/ciocentral/2010/11/30/red-hat-at-1-billion/>. -
    22. -
  22. - Dignan, Larry. "Red Hat: Nearing $1 billion in revenue; Not bad for - free software". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. March 23, 2011. - <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/red-hat-nearing-1-billion-in-revenue-not-bad-for-free-software/46445>. -
    23. -
  23. - "Canonical Ltd.". Wikipedia. June 12, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_Ltd.>. -
    24. -
  24. - Nystrom, Sebastian. "Nokia and Digia working together to grow the Qt - community". The Qt Blog. Nokia Corporation. March 7, 2011. - <http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/03/07/nokia-and-digia-working-together/>. -
    25. -
  25. - "Partner Locator". Nokia Corporation. - <http://qt.nokia.com/partners/partner-locator>. -
    26. -
  26. - "AdaCore". Wikipedia. May 20, 2011. - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdaCore>. -
    27. -
  27. - "Company". Sencha. Sencha Inc. - <http://www.sencha.com/company/>. -
    28. -
  28. - "Consultants". Debian Project. July 11, 2011. - <http://www.debian.org/consultants/>. -
    29. -
  29. - Sullivan, John. "Service Directory". Free Software Foundation, Inc. - April 14, 2011. - <http://www.fsf.org/resources/service/>. -
    30. -
  30. - "The Free Software Definition". GNU Project. Free Software - Foundation, Inc. July 13, 2011. - <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>. -
    31. -
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    32. -
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