Linux in business

>
> > for fun, it will not. That darn GPL sort of gets in the way of making
mon=
> ey
> > though, doesn't it?
>
> No, it doesn't. It gets in the way of vendor lock in, which many companies
> use in order to make money. Imagine having to sign an annual contract to
> only use one chain when eating at a fast food joint... :)
>
Maybe you're right. I guess it depends on what you consider a viable
business model. It seems the FSF will be to the software business what P2P
file sharing is to the music industry. If the RIAA can't put a stop to MP3
file sharing (and I don't think they can), the only way for musicians to
make money will be live performances. Not necessarily a bad thing, but they
won't be able to get as rich as they would otherwise. In the software
industry this means no more royalties from 50M copies of VisiCalc, for
example. Programmers get paid for writing custom software, service and
support. Maybe that's enough. You could argue that without the pecuniary
motive the really good software won't get written or supported, but the
existence of Linux seems to prove otherwise. On the other hand, Linux still
doesn't have quite the polish of Windows. But then, that might be nothing
more than the difference between Whole-Wheat and White.
--Phil M.