foust@gumby.UUCP (08/02/85)
Well, so far no one has admitted to owning pirate programs, so I guess all this talk is for naught. I doubt the Net Police exist, and that they'll come and get each of us if we admit to having pirated copies of Space Invaders for our Commodore 64s. In my original posting, I was not suggesting that the market for software was going to dry up because of freeware and PD programs. Instead, I hoped for some serious discussion of any possible future market threat from PD software in the competitive software market. Won't this exist? Or will store-bought programs _always_ be better than the one the local telecom guru fashioned? Like others who read this newsgroup, I hope to make my living in this field, selling the products of my labor. Luckily, software is my avocation as well as my vocation, so I am happy both at work and home, whittling away bugs and paring code. This is how most present PD software arises, at home, by somebody who just might do it for a living, too, but doesn't think there is a market for a better DIR/ls command. So, instead of trying to sell and/or market their product, they give it away. If it's good, they circulate it, if not, it dies. Just like recipes, passed from person to person. The program evolves, too. Beyond the cute "Well, where are the PD C compilers now?" responses, there are PD compilers out there, mostly for CP/M, I admit, plus compiler-compilers, assemblers, linkers. I have no doubts these will slowly port to MS-DOS, if that's what you are all worried about. In fact, several of the companies selling cheapo C compilers are brushed-up versions of the PD compilers. There is the market curve: compilers are getting cheaper and cheaper, and the mark-up between free compilers and sold compilers is only $40, but the PD comes with source code. I know, they probably aren't the same product, but they are getting close. Are developers considering this evolution? Frankly, I think the future software market will sustain more and more custom programming shops, like some net people suggest. I think the more common programming tools will get cheaper and cheaper, and some will be free. -- John Foust "I used to be disgusted, but now I'm just amused"