[wellylug] Lycoris Desktop/LX Software

Jamie Baddeley wellylug at vpc.co.nz
Sun Mar 14 22:08:03 NZDT 2004


I scanned through the archives as well, and it's seems it's the usual
suspects. ;-) again.

It's a tricky one. 

First off, some questions:

1. Is it ok for lug people to sell each other stuff through the list
(aka 6GB HDD for sale) - if so do we qualify what is ok/not ok, or do we
not bother?

2. Is it ok for non-lug people to sell to lug people through the list
(viagra! penis enlargement!, prescription drugs from canada! badger
badger badger!)

3. Should there be a rule that if products are sold onlist, they must at
least meet the opensource guidelines? (i.e product uses a license that
meets the guidelines (i.e. http://www.opensource.org/licenses/)

4. What is the primary purpose of the list? 

anyway..

-------------------------
Important Point:

Spam = Unsolicted Commercial Email. Michael, no one as far as I can tell
asked for your email selling us stuff. I think that may make it spam.
"..I very rarely hear people having a go at SUSE or RedHat and also now
Mandrake for making money from Linux..." - that's because RH/Suse etc
aren't bloody silly enough to post a "buy redhat here! - cheep! " email
to the wellylug list.
-------------------------

now some discussion:

If for a wild and crazy moment we use the GPL to guide us in terms of a
moral standpoint, It is actually ok to sell GPL licensed software. The
only thing is that if you do, you must supply the source code if
requested. So, from a moral standpoint I guess it's ok if source is
supplied on request. Apparently Lycoris do this.
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=5089

The practical reality of that however, is that the traditional business
model of selling software as a shrinkwrapped product is somewhat
weakened by the 'supply source' GPL requirement, as value of this
business has traditionally been raised by 'artificial supply scarcity' -
with gpl 'supply source' there is no scarcity.

In the end, people can sell gpl licenced stuff, but they are competing
against an alternative supply of similar product that can be acquired
for a price that usually meets or betters what they are selling at. In
other words the "software as a product" market is extremely competitive

IMHO, it's OK to sell software as a product, but frankly that's an old
business model and (IMHO) is doomed for failure, and you'd be better off
building a business based on customer support and consultancy services -
or delivering a information service that uses it. If the software is
free, then the value is in what you do with it. Seems obvious to me. 

--------------------

Michael, you won't win any friends or customers with a rant like your
last email contained mate. Besides, we are not your market. As you point
out, "..Do your grandparents, children or basic business users need or
care about DevTools and / or source.." - this to me seems like your
market - not us. Oh yeah, and stop sending me spam.

Finally, the best of luck with your endeavours. May you take the
comments from the lug as constructive feedback. Listen to what your
peers are saying. It might be useful.

Jamie




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