Re:The Few, the Tired, the Open Source Coders
by dalke on Friday November 20, 2020 @02:33PM
(#25163985)
Yes, most FOSS business models of the 1990s were based on secondary effects. Like "people will pay you to add features / support the software / integrate your software in their system."
I deliberately did NOT use that model. Rather, you pay $$$ and get commercial software, which happens to be under a FOSS license.
In other words, I wanted to see what happens if it's not "free as in beer". If you are willing to pay for software, will you pay more, or less, for a FOSS license instead of a commercial one?
Turns out, people don't care - they want the cheapest one. At least, my customers' willingness to pay more for a FOSS license doesn't match my economic risk for selling under a FOSS license.
I deliberately did NOT use that model. Rather, you pay $$$ and get commercial software, which happens to be under a FOSS license.
In other words, I wanted to see what happens if it's not "free as in beer". If you are willing to pay for software, will you pay more, or less, for a FOSS license instead of a commercial one?
Turns out, people don't care - they want the cheapest one. At least, my customers' willingness to pay more for a FOSS license doesn't match my economic risk for selling under a FOSS license.