[NTLUG:Discuss] to 'sell' or not to sell opensource

[Chris Cox]

Jerry Haltom wrote:
> GPL'd software is not unsellable. You misunderstand Free. Free as in
> speech. Free as in beer is a side effect.
> 
> You can sell GPL'd software, and the GPL explicitly permits it, as long
> as you also distribute a copy, or make available a copy of the source
> code, the same code used to compile what you are selling. This means, it
> is not profitable to sell GPL'd software. But you can still do it.

Also, consider large projects.. like Apache, Mozilla, even the whole
of a Linux distribution.  Having source available is not very
convenient.  Easier to pay someone else for the binaries.
You also get some support (hopefully dependable), updates and
upgrades... and the convenience of network-less install media
(that's not on a cheap CDR).

Could certainly be profitable.  In fact, without the major
distributions, Linux probably would have not market share at all
(it would be strictly geek... and then, only for the incredibly
patient geek).

Can you make money with OSS (and/or free software)?? I think yes.