Propellerhead ReBirth & copying

[Thomas Hudson]

"Curtin, Steven D (Steven)" wrote:

> On the other hand, one thing I like about all of us building our own synths
> now is that we can have very strange and original designs that don't have to
> sell 10,000 copies in order to be successful.  This also cultivates a
> freeware and "copyleft" atmosphere which is very healthy and creative, so
> long as we're not trying to make a living at it.
>

[WARNING: Soapbox mode: on]
It is possible for a company to "copyleft" software and make money.  My
employer
had revenues of $24 million last year, all from "free" software. Cygnus does
all
development on the GNU compiler/debugger suite (GCC/G++/EGCS, GDB, etc.)
We've also developed an RTOS, which we will also be giving away.
(http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/)
We make our money from support and porting contracts. RedHat Software
came in as the second "free software" company with revenues of $20 million.
You can download RedHat 5.1 right off the Internet, and install it on as many
machines as you want, legally. Yet they still make money.

As a programmer, I won't make illegal copies of software for moral reasons.
Someone is trying to make a living this way. I have worked on both open source
and traditional commercial software, it feeds my family (and buys my toys :-).

I hope that more companies will explore business models that allow the
creativity
that comes from open source software. Many fixes for our software come from the

Net, something that wouldn't happen with closed source. Even Microsoft is
admitting (internally) that they can't keep up with the development speed of
internet-created software like Linux and Apache.
(http://www.opensource.org/halloween)

This wonderful movement of cooperation is even echoed in the hardware
world; an "open-hardware" oscilloscope design (http://www.bitscope.com),
PAiA publishes their schematics, etc.

And if you enjoy the freedom and convenience of software without copying
restrictions (and the source code so you can fix it when it's broken), instead
of making illegal copies of software sold under the older business model,
support
the open source movement.  There are many was you can support it, even if you
don't program. Volunteer to beta test or write docs. Buy a copy of RedHat.
There is even free EDA software in the works (http://www.geda.seul.org/).
Volunteer to help and make sure the features you want are included.
[Soapbox mode: off, with apologies]

Thomas