,--On 7/2/05, Ayan Chakrabarti <ee01b098@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
|Yes you can, if you're writing it for a company that needs quality
|software on its platform fast.
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[..snip..]
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|Not Necessarily. For example, if you're working as a contract
|programmer making software for a big company, you sell them your
|program and give the code with it.
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We shouldn't be confusing between the "software product" industry
and the "customized software" industry. The examples you have
given cater to the later case. The IT industry in India is mostly
built on business opportunities in the "customized solutions" market.
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|You can earn money writing a verilog synthesizer for a company
|that makes FPGAs. You benefit by cutting down on your
|development time by using Icarus Verilog, and the company pays
|you because it wants something which does place and route for
|their hardware.
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Ok, let's see this. You sell your GPLed product to this company.
This company likes your product. Why shouldn't this company put
your product on their ftp server for other's download pleasure
and social service ? And when that happens, why should someone pay
just for your s/w and not download it from the company's ftp server?
Ok, let us keep aside the donations channel for a moment (because
there are people who are not _so_ geeky and who want a reliable and
constant source of income because they have family to support)
On the other hand, if the company doesn't want any other entity
to use your s/w but only them (for reasons like maintaining an edge
in market, maintaining monopoly etc.), why should they accept you
selling it to them under GPL ? Because then _you_ will be a threat
to them, because, as the author, you retain the right to distribute/
sell it to others too!
Same with the other examples.
saha
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