Author: Don Dailey
Date: 09:04:58 11/11/98
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On November 11, 1998 at 02:00:06, Dann Corbit wrote: >On November 11, 1998 at 01:47:38, David Blackman wrote: >[snip] >>2. How easy it to sell chess programs for Linux? >> Answer: probably a lot harder than for Windows, because Windows is what >> most chess players have on their computers at home. >Instead of "How easy is it to sell chess programs for Linux?" we might instead >ask "How can we produce and sell chess programs for Linux?" >Linux is a copyleft product. All the development tools for Linux are also >copyleft. If you produce something with copyleft tools, it also is copyleft. >1. How can you possibly sell something, when it is illegal to do so, except for >the cost of the media? >2. Will you spend a million dollars developing something, when you have to give >away the source code to anyone who asks? > >The answer is plain, you *cannot* develop commercial chess programs for Linux. >However, you can get very good programs such as Crafty and Phalanx which are >produced by people who won't starve if they don't sell ten thousand copies of a >chess program. > >That does not mean that the independently developed tools will not become even >better than the ones you have to buy. As an illustration, GCC is one of the >best C & C++ compilers around. I am especially fond of its diagnostics. Yet it >was developed under copyleft. > >It might be possible to give away the razor and sell the blades. This technique >is being used by some in the copyleft arena. They sell technical support and >other related services. > >On the other hand, there may be some who are more creative than I am and can >figure out a way to develop commercial programs on and for Linux. > >[IMO-YMMV] Hi Dan, There are already a bunch of commercial products out for Linux. It turns out that YOU CAN develop commercial products with no problem whatsoever. I was confused about this too and it's certainly easy to be. Even Linux itself is sold. I have seen Redhat linux distributions sell for 50 dollars. This is much more than the price of the media. You can go to their site and download all of the current stuff for no cost whatsoever, OR you can buy the CD rom from them. I'm not sure exactly what the exact rules are here, but the basic idea is that it is ok and even encouraged to make lot's of money with Linux. That is what is so cool about it. RedHat also sells support with each CDROM and they add value to the product and what a fine product it is. One thing I know about Linux is that the number of users is growing extremely rapidly. It's actually making an impact and this surprises even me, a serious linux fan because I don't think it's really a very good choice for less advanced users. The number one problem with Linux is fighting this (but it has improved a lot and is getting better), the huge software base of Windows, and especially the fear factor or group belonging thing that gives windows a big advantage. - Don
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