On 19/07/12 03:20 PM, Celejar wrote:
Many companies release their software as FLOSS and make money out of it. RedHat is a good example. Novell only returned to profitability after taking over Suse. IBM is one of the world's biggest supporters of FLOSS.On Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:08:58 +0300 Andrei POPESCU<andreimpopescu@gmail.com> wrote:On Jo, 19 iul 12, 01:17:49, Doug wrote:Sorry for the bandwidth, but I think the Linux user--I'm certainly one of them--needs to realize what real specialized software is, and what it costs to develop, and why it's not free.Please don't confuse free (beer) with free(dom). Also, I don't have aIt's not that simple. If I realize my software as FLOSS, even if I charge money for it, how many copies can I realistically hope to sell if any and all my customers are perfectly free to distribute it gratis?
There are various models that are used. Some charge for support, like RedHat. If you don't want their support, you can use CentOS or Scientific Linux. Moreover, more companies prefer RedHat's support to Oracle's for essentially the same OS. I charge people to support their Linux (and Windows) setups. After all, technical expertise isn't all that common or easy.
Others charge for training. Just because the software is free doesn't mean you necessarily know how to use it to its fullest capacity. Many companies prefer to send people for training rather than have them struggle to get used to a product.
Some use donation models - ask people who use your software to contribute to its development (or not, it's optional). Others seek funding from foundations to keep developing software that servers the public good.
Some use ads on their web sites to generate revenue when (potential) user come to look for help.
Some just build up a base of volunteers to put out their product without really expecting to make any money from it. They have day jobs to pay the way. I do something similar when I volunteer with the Lions Club - it's just not software related.