Skip to main content

It's software that will almost be free - News - ZDNet

It's software that will almost be free - News - ZDNet

Ok - and I guess that means consultants will rule the world again which will put them in the same bag as lawyers and politicians. (great!)

There is a serious push for everyone to provide free software but there's a hypocrisy there as well: I want a free operating system and a free development system but I want my customers to pay me for something I will build? You can't have it both ways. If you are a consultant and being paid to deliver something, then you are no longer an open-source proponent. You will be making money off of someone else's back.

But the critical factor here is what software should be free? If it's the OS or the Word processor, why not the inventory management system or the customer tracking database?

The biggest problem with low-cost or free software is that customers then expect the support to be the same and that just isn't realistic. This article hits part of the nail - hardware will never be free (it may just seem that way with support and subscription services). But software is in the same boat - the time and energy that goes into software development may not be the same as building a house - but the provider still needs to be paid somewhere along the line.

For every Bill Gates who has made a fortune on software, there are hundreds of smaller developers who have a great idea for a product but are almost pushed into the realm of public domain or freeware by the open-source people. And yet, the constant demand for their time grows, even though they aren't seeing any real money from it.

Sure - it's good for the ego, but it's not good for the pocketbook or life in general. This is similar to the music industry but at least with software, no one is likely to want to download the 1.7GB for a particular package (unless they have that trusty T1 line).

How many people actually registered WinZip? I know I did but I'm amazed at how many people have it who are on their 5675th day of the "free trial" and have used it more than 10,000 times. It's $30. Show some support to the actual people who go out and make these things.

If you don't pay for your software, then you shoudn't expect much. The reverse is also true - if you pay for your software, then you have every right to shout and demand new features and the like. Sounds like democracy, right?

This isn't critizing the open source community - I think building software in the wide open is a great idea - HOWEVER, it should not be the only argument for its benefit. Unless everyone in open source is independently wealthy, its likely that the guy offering up his wares for the world is struggling between a meek consulting practice and trying to build the next great thing.

Free software is not a solution; neither is free hardware. If the trend continues without a change in attitude, we'll all be worse off.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Blogs and RSS come to Microsoft.com

MS has just introduced their portal and it's pretty comprehensive. Nothing quite like learning that some people use AIM instead of MSN messenger, or that there really may be a need for supporting 4 monitors ( Cyrus Complains ) However, it's really a great sign that MS is serious about supporting the blogging community which seems to have um, exploded in size in the past year. Blogs and RSS come to Microsoft.com

FoxInCloud Stats

FoxInCloud sent this link a while back about their statistics regarding visits to their site: http://foxincloud.com/blog/2017/12/27/VFP-community-lessons-from-foxincloud-site.html What's interesting here is the breakdown of people. Yes, I think it's understandable that the Fox community is getting older. Another factor is the growth of the mobile and web environments taking over development. These environments really do push people towards the newer non-SQL or free SQL/hosted environments but more towards hosted storage options like Amazon and Google. A tool like FoxInCloud that helps MOVE existing applications to the cloud inherently competes with those environments. But FoxInCloud also allows developers to extend their application further by giving them a starting point using Javascript and the basic CSS (such as Bootstrap). If you're not rebuilding your application from scratch, it's certainly a great step forward. FoxPro VFP

5 Great Reasons to attend Virtual FoxFest

What's coming up? Virtual FoxFest is coming up soon (sessions start October 14th). Like last year, the conference is entirely virtual yet includes great breakdown rooms and sessions to add that nice one-on-one feel that you get in person. It's also staggered so you can choose which days you want to attend - October 14th, 20th and 26th. This is great if you can't break away for a consecutive three days. But really, I've gone through the sessions and I see five great sessions that I'm eager to check out. 1. A Decade of Thor (Rick Schummer) Thor has been an extension for Visual FoxPro that many developers swear by, yet many don't know even exists. Visual FoxPro's built-in extensions are great but Jim Nelson's Thor supercharges your IDE. I can't believe it's been ten years - so Rick's session should be able to not just whet your appetite but give you all the reasons you should be using it. 2. VFP C++ compiler.  Last year, we saw DotNetX as well