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List:       kde
Subject:    Re: InstallShield for KDE?
From:       "John L. Fjellstad" <jfjellst () bayarea ! net>
Date:       1999-11-11 7:09:36
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"Timothy R. Butler" wrote:

> under the GPL doesn't mean you can't make money with it. Look at how much
> RedHat makes - people are willing to pay for support, and maybe a CD and
> manual.

RedHat is hardly a good example of Free Software at work.  Free Software
is dependent on people working for free (as in gratis).  Would RedHat
have been able to charge that little if the developers had demanded
payment for the value they add to the product?  Most of Redhat's
earnings is in the sale of CD, not in support (at this time).

Mind you, I don't blame Redhat. They have the right to distribute the
software, and they really don't owe anybody anything (despite what
Slashdotters think).  The license give them the right.  And if I write
some small utility, or even the next greate thing, I probably will put
in under GPL. Mostly because I want it to spread (ego boost). But I
won't pretend I can make money on the software. 

KDE developers have created a great product, and it help will expand the
Linux marked, which will help Redhat (and the other distributions).  How
much have they received $$$ from this work?    

Who will people buy support from? Redhat, who can support a whole
distribution, or individuals, who can only support separate packages?

And documentation. If the damn software was well written, and
documented, why would you need to buy documentation from O'Reilly? 
Granted, KDE and FSF software is generally well documented, but I have a
feeling most Free Software developers are hoping to sell the
documentation. Why else would the documentation be non-existent?

-- 
John______________________________________________________________________
email: jfjellst@bayarea.net
http://www.bayarea.net/~jfjellst/
work: john@prodexnet.com
icq: thales @ 17755648
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