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Re: Importance of price (was: Re: [ox-en] Slides for Lancaster)


I must agree with the gratis part.

Saying that free software is free but not gratis is an
ideological statement, not a factual one.

Stating that it is free is a factual and analytical
one.

Pricing is a mechanism for allocating scarce
resources.

Something that is reproducible at free or marginal
cost, cannot be sold at a price unless on a voluntary
basis, as you can always obtain a free copy.

Are there any concrete cases of business models
regarding free software that are solely based on
selling the software.

My understanding is that successfull OS companies are
selling service packages (installing, servicing,
training, etc...)

If a company is paying for software alone, it is my
understanding that they are paying for some kind of
'guarantee' which is why some companies 'insist' on
paying. The money goes to that guarantee, not to the
software which they could obtain from somewhere else.

In the hypothetical case that they would sell the
software, but that you cannot obtain it in any other,
it would logically follow that it is not free
software, as the code would not be available. If the
code is available, it would mean that there is always
a gratis alternative.

I think that given the constraints, you have done a
good job with the presentation.


Michel



* The actual product is gratis

  However: Price plays a role, but is not crucial


Given how confused most people still are about

this

free-as-in-speech-vs.-free-as-in-beer ambiguity, I

find the above point

not very helpful. What is "the product",


As long as we talk about Free Software there is a
very easy answer:
the Free Software. I.e. the deliverables which are
installed on my,
your, Yuwei's, ... computer. No doubt.

And Free Software is certainly a product because it
is not given to us
by nature - instead it is produced by someone. Again
no doubt.

Really: I can not see what your question is here.


and what is gratis about it ?


It is gratis when I can obtain it without paying
money. Meanwhile this
is even literally true because I got a DSL flat rate
so internet
connection meanwhile is part of the general
preconditions of life.
Indeed for the Kubuntu I installed lately I paid
exactly nothing.
Stop! I payed for one CD-R as a boot CD. But that's
it.

For me this is gratis. No doubt.


It may have been best to skip this point, or

simply stating that the issue

is in fact about freedom, not price.





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Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net; Blog, at http://blog.p2pfoundation.net; Newsletter, at http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p 

Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; interview at  http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html; video interview, at http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/09/29/network_collaboration_peer_to_peer.htm


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