--- Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 06:56 PM 7/8/2003 -0700, you wrote: > >In my research (and I have done a good deal of it > >looking for free software to accomplish IT tasks, > and > >robotic programming tasks), I have found a really > not > >surprising theme. The more peole that need a piece > of > >software, the more likly it is to be cheap or free. > > I am going to keep hammering at my single question. > :) > > What if there is a market for the software, but it > isn't yet available? > Then who pays? If it's a single client then that > client bears the total > cost. If it is the entire marketplace then the cost > per-client is much > smaller. This is a benefit of mass-marketed > commercial software. Commercial software will probablly find the market and fill the need before Open Source if the market is big enough to support the development effort. However, there are alternatives.
1) Members of the market can request help via SourceForge, slashdot, etc. Payment, if necessary, is shared by the participating members of the market. 2) Members of the market can request grant and request proposals from programmers. The cost is covered by the granting institution. 3) Bake Sale! > How can we get that kind of benefit? > > It is entirely possible that with open source > software you can't get this > kind of benefit in this scenario (the software does > not exist or is not of > reasonable quality). That is a big problem though, > and I'd like to see > ideas about how to get around it. > > I do need to read up on the ransom model. I haven't > had time yet. Any other > ideas? I think I will devote some actual time to this tonight. > > > --- > Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Puryear Information Technology, LLC > <http://www.puryear-it.com> > Providing expertise in the management, integration, > and > security of Windows and UNIX systems, networks, and > applications. > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net ===== Warmest Regards, Doug Riddle http://www.dougriddle.com http://fossile-project.sourceforge.net/ http://www.libranet.com -- "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the Peoples' Liberty Teeth." - George Washington -- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com
