"rights" and "freedoms"

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

David Johnson wrote:
> 
> and 4) Just sell the software. Enough people will buy it to
> support the developers. Yeah, right! Why give $59.95 to AbiSource
> when I can get it for $2 from cheapbytes along with everything
> else on a Linux distro.
> 
> So, all in all, I don't see any way for AbiSource to legitimately
> make money. Am I missing something very basic?

Dunno.  My sister just sold on eBay for US$12 some brand-name
chocolate she bought for US$4.99.  Barnum's Theorem would
seem to be a factor here.  Why do people pay US$50 (or is it
US$75 now?) for Red Hat's distribution when it's on the
'net for the price of the bandwidth?  Why do people buy
paper copies of books and documents available for free on the
'net?

I don't know the answers, but it certainly seems possible that
there are some, and that they could potentially apply here.
-- 
#ken    P-)}

Ken Coar                    <http://Web.Golux.Com/coar/>
Apache Software Foundation  <http://www.apache.org/>
"Apache Server for Dummies" <http://ASFD.MeepZor.Com/>