🚀 go-pugleaf

philh@vision25.demon.co.uk (Phil Hunt)
> In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.980928140832.24247A-100000@howard>
>            patrick@howard.genetics.utah.edu "Patrick" writes:
..
> > It is merely the steel expression of my idea.  Just like a socket 
> > wrench started out as an idea, the expression of that idea is the steel 
> > socket wrench.  Why should it not be free?  It took work to make it.  It 
> > took dilligence and time to express that idea in a concrete form.  This 
> > is NO different than software.  
> 
> No, it is *very* different from software. Software can be reproduced
> at essentailly zero cost. Socket wrenches can't.

Note that software and physical goods like socket wrenches share the
most important characteristic: They cannot be developed at zero cost,
as Patrick notes.

The fact that one of them can be reproduced at near zero cost is of
secondary importance, since only a non-zero price can be relied upon
to generate income enough to to pay off the initial development.

The typical argument (that one can sell support) is insufficient,
since it doesn't provide an incentive for potential customers to buy
support from the initial developer of the software.  Indeed, it
provides an incentive not to: Other sources of support can charge less
since they don't have to pay off that large development investment.

--Arnt