Does selling software have a future?

[Makaveli2007]

I just asked myself this question: On the web, if you can provide something for free, many times actually providing it for free seems to pay the price you can charge many times over (in links, which give you exposure on which you can cash in using other means).

Is this not the case for software? If someone's business model is selling software online, isn't he at a big risk of somebody else offering that software for free?

Isn't every business that sells software at a big risk of having open source software take its place?

Apparently the above theories haven't worked against microsoft & windows. But why? I don't get it :-)

[bakedjake]

Isn't every business that sells software at a big risk of having open source software take its place?

In theory, sure.

In reality, corporations and individuals have support demands and many of those demands aren't currently being met by the open source projects out there.

In reality, corporations and individuals have functionality demands and many of those demands aren't currently being met by the open source projects out there.

In reality, corporations and individuals have usability demands and many of those demands aren't currently being met by the open source projects out there.

Don't take my response as a rant against open source software. I use it frequently. But I am not the average corporation or user.

I've always thought of it like changing your own oil - there are folks that do it, and with a manual and lots of time I'm sure I could as well and save some money - but I have no desire to do so, and my time is worth more to me than the money I pay to have it done. The people that I know that change their own oil think I'm crazy for paying someone to do it. ;-)

[bakedjake]

I should add: It occurs to me that most folks who start open source projects don't do it because they're unwilling to pay for something that exists, rather they do it because the functionality they're after doesn't currently exist.

Often these projects grow into more than their original (often simple) intended task, and they grow into something which competes with existing alternatives.

This is just my opinion, I have no empirical evidence to prove or disprove my observations.

[Makaveli2007]

thanks for your input..Ill try to think about your changing oil analogy and figure out what exactly you meant - sounded basically like "the opportunity cost of creating open source software is too high for most people"?