Is free software good for developers?


Do you think that free, as in no cost, software is good for developers
and the software market in general?

Even though many Open Source (OS) products are zero cost, this is not
intended as an OS debate.

My personal take on it is that free software is not necessarily a good
thing.

I used to be amazed at those providing free software. I used to think
those people were crazy and obviously had other, "real" jobs to put a
roof over their head. I was mostly ambivalent towards them and happy
to occasionally use the fruits of their labour.

However, in the last little while, I've decided that those people
really annoy me. While they may put no monetary value on their time,
the only significant resource required to create free software, I do.

What incentive is their for a software company or small developer to
pour resources (time=money) into creating a great product, only to have
some group of idealists create a free knock-off? There is no
innovation in copying someone else's work.

For the really big/complex software such as operating systems I suppose
commercial companies can still fight back by lowering the product
prices and then charging for great support, but small developers really
get screwed. In every software related newsgroup I frequent, any time
someone is posting for a solution, 99% of the time they stipulate that
they would "prefer" a free solution - And nowadays, they often get it.

I can think of no other industry where this happens. You would never
have a group of people providing free cars, houses, or food.

The idea of completely free software is somewhat flawed and, IMO, hurts
the software industry by stifling innovation and stunting the
creation/growth of solid and reliable software companies.

Sorry if this seems like a rant, but I just had a customer tell me
today that he thought one of my products was a "little" expensive
($1,500), especially considering some of the free alternatives out
there. Of course, not 20 minutes earlier, he was beaming about the
$400,000 they just dropped on a new machine for their assembly line
that will give them an edge over their competition.

Software gets no respect.

--
Kevin Powick
.

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