roberts@nbs-vms.arpa (ROBERTS, JOHN) (06/25/86)
If the software has truly been released into the public domain, then
I don't think there are any restrictions against selling it for profit.
(You could probably legitimately complain if someone modified a program
and attributed it as such to the original author, or claimed to be the
sole creator of a program you had written, but those are separate
issues.) This can not be done with software from the GNU development
project, because it is in fact copyrighted, with permission given for
use and distribution providing certain requirements are met. These
restrictions control distribution involving transfer of funds and
modifications to the software. (This would prevent, for instance, a
programmer from creating an "improved" version of a program,
copyrighting and marketing it, thus decreasing the usefulness of the
free version.) (I'm not sure what the distribution requirements say
about media costs, shipping, etc.)
Placing distribution restrictions on a piece of software can
considerably hinder its widespread use, especially if it is something
fairly simple and non-essential such as a game. Not everybody has a
modem or easy access to a software library. What marketing companies
are providing is essentially an advertising and distribution service,
and as such they might legitimately expect to make some profit. (The
prices for public software are usually much lower than for non-public
software.) Anyone giving out free floppy disks will very quickly lose
money, and anyone who calculates prices to exactly match costs for
media, duplication, shipping, depreciation, advertising, etc. will
eventually lose money due to marketing miscalculations, etc. There
are many people and organizations willing to risk losing a little bit
of money this way, but a major distributor would risk losing a lot of
money.
If one is to adhere strictly to objections against profiteering, then
one must rule out distribution via a non-free bulletin board or
network or publication, or simplified distribution to members of an
organization that has membership fees, since such forms of distribution
enhance the value of the services, and thus encourage people to
pay money to the distributors. Adhering strictly to this principle
could thus greatly hamper widespread distribution of the software,
which is probably contrary to the interests of most of the original
authors.
A number of authors of public domain software are willing to send out
copies for slightly more than duplication and shipping costs. I
appreciate their willingness to do so, and would not begrudge them the
slight markup. Some non-profit organizations distribute such software
at slight markup to cover losses from other services they provide. I
would not consider this an exhibition of greed.
As long as distributors make it plain that what they are making
available is in the public domain, and make no attempt to discourage
further distribution though warnings, copy protection, etc., I don't
see any need for there to be a solid correlation between charges for
software and charges for distribution.
<Standard disclaimers. (You can sell this posting for profit if you
want, providing you don't change anything and can find a buyer.)>
John Roberts
roberts@nbs-vms.ARPA
------rick@uwmacc.UUCP (the absurdist) (06/26/86)
Before anyone else starts getting hot about these companies
"ripping off" shareware developers, I'd like to note that
in the cases I know of, the shareware developer has explicitly
licensed the company to advertise and sell their product
nationally. They still sell the shareware thru normal
channels, but now they can also handle the case of the
person who wants, say, 20 copies of the newest PC-Write, with
printed out manuals. A number of the BrownBag software products
are like this, for example -- repackaged and licensed shareware.
Many people are more interested in saving time than in saving
money (after all, "time IS money ...").
--
"As head of all criminal activity here in Casablanca, I am
a prominent and respected citizen." -- Sidney Greenstreet
Rick Keir -- just down from the Oyster Tank -- UWisc - Madison
{allegra, ihnp4, seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!rick