15 Dec
2006
15 Dec
'06
11:31 a.m.
So the long
run solution to the free audio problem is to persuade
everyone in our society to provide whatever he or her does for free and
find ways to make it accessible to everyone who wants it, and to make
the same efforts today's marketers do to communicate to people why they
should want it.
Why don't you start by persuading yourself to provide whatever you do
for free, etc? It's easy to insist that others should do free work for
you. But are you ready to do full time hard work for free for the others? Brilliant idea. Someone else should pay to somebody
else so that you can
get Linux audio software for free. What about paying for the software
yourself?
'Attracting money' refers to advertising revenue, sales of
merchandising, and donations, which would pour in from people who
are grateful for getting my music for free. My productive contribution
comes from composing, arranging and producing the music, as well
as marketing it. As money comes in, a significant portion goes to the
developers in the form of donations.
About the original subject: IMHO the only way to
attract more Linux
audio developers is paying for the software. Money is the reason why 90%
of people do any work. Practically all professional audio software
developers do they work for Win/Mac because the _paying_ customers use
them. Linux audio software is being developed by amateurs because there
is no market for professional developers.
I agree 100% with what you are saying, but I disagree that paying for
the software 'per unit' is a good idea because it kills network effects
and fosters competition.
My suggestion is to MAKE the donations model work through a dual selling
process: First you sell your user on the idea of using your software,
and THEN you sell your user on the idea of donating. That second sales
process takes the place of downright charging, and is a proper (if
challenging, until you get good at it) replacement for enforcing
intellectual property rights, which is simply impractical in the world
of infinite replicability that we have on the Internet.
I appreciate your comments, Hainu; I really think free software can be
much more than it is right now for the good of society, and I have
specific ideas on how to accomplish this, an I am infinitely grateful to
anyone who will take these ideas into consideration.
Have a great day!
Carlo