Another way to make money off Linux would to be offer some version
of Linux with specialized functionality that no one else is offering.
This could be done if a group of Linux developers creates a version
of Linux and keeps it proprietary - that is they don't share their
code with anyone else.
This wouldnt work if it stands up in court, because this is what
the GPL license (which Linux kernel is distributed under) was
created to prevent. The reason it will not fragment, is that it
can never be made proprietary: when someone makes an addition, it
must be made available with source code under the GPL as well.
This, I think, is why some feel GPL is "infective". But I am
happy this is so, because only software is free that can never
be made non-free.
It is through keeping technology proprietary that a business
can hope to maximize a revenue stream.
The past shows its by getting marketshare, so that business
based on a free kernel gets to ride the tails. Or put differently,
whenever any enabling technology becomes widely available, new
businesses will spring up that didnt exist before. This is what
keeps the economy alive, isnt it.
Your talk about money driving things, thats what most think in
USA. Most free software is written by those who likes to be
creative, recognized/respected, educated, proud of what they
do. Thats how Linux kernel became fast and stable, for example.
And when most common applications become available with sources
then businesses will see that it is cheaper to contract with
the developers (or someone who understands its workings) to
make a customized version than it would be to get programmers
to write the whole program from scratch or get a source license
from a proprietary place. Most of these additions will end up
as patches/improvements to the distribution. And so it gains.
The main point is, it doesnt matter than some software firms
go out of business (because they are slow to adjust) if much
more new opportunity is the result. For example, free software
will spread quickly through non-industrialized countries and
the payoff will be huge. If they had been served by software
companies "trying to maximize their revenue stream", then this
would have happened slowly and/or by illegal bootlegging. |
