[FSF India] Making money from GPLed (Free) Software

[Pappu]

On Fri, Aug 31, 2001 at 06:33:34PM +0530, Kalyan Varma wrote:
> 	You do have to realise that not all Computer companies
> can survive by just offering servies. Lets say MS releases windows
> under GPL, knowing MS it would make windowz *not so user friendly*.
Please understand that services offered to software users is not just
mere hand holding. There are people who call support with simple querrys
but this is NOT the services bussiness that every one is talking about.

> Only that way people will come back to these companies for services.
You may be talking of end users and not corporate customers. End users
don't bring much revenues to a non free software vendor. It is the 
corporate customers that throw in the money. 

> IF the software works fine, why would anyone need service.....
You got to do a little more research. Ask any major bank or department 
store. There are thousands of them around the world and they have been
paying service companies through their nose ever since thay started 
using computers for bussiness. And they don't care whether the software
works fine or not, but they need some one to sue when some thing goes 
wrong and dosen't get fixed. 

Customers purchase maintanance contracts for things they can do themselves, 
just because maintaining the software is not their bussiness. A clerk at 
a sales counter may be able to fix small abnormalities but any depatrment
store worth its name would have a service contract with a services company
for such jobs. Just look around. 

You might have come across terms like ``IT outsourcing''. They mean big 
bussiness and pleanty of money.

> So the quality of the software will suffer in this case. 
This is based on wrong assumptions. 

> So if you ban all non-GPL software... many companies will fall.
All companies may not be equally good at services. Customers will
always go to the best. Bussines is not easy and it is wrong to 
believe that any one who can write a program should get pleanty of
money. 

If no body uses non free software, then all companies depending on
non free software will defenitely fail. How does this fact prove 
that non free software is OK?

> So instead of banning, 
We don't have the authority to ban any thing. 

> we spread awareness , telling people, the kind
> of freedom the people will enjoy using GPL sofware.
True. This is the way to go.

bye,
pappu.