You make some interesting points and I'd like to try and address some of them.

Suppose your baker discovers that the flour he uses to make his bread comes from a genetically modified strain of wheat and only produces one harvest (this is actually the kind of "technology" that organisations like Monsanto are trying to sneak in). The cost of his bread has shot up as wheat has become more expensive, and because of patent restrictions he can only get his flour from one supplier.

This is not unlike the situation with software. Ideally software should be "free" (free beer), but open source (free speech) is obviously a compromise. There is money to be made in both models from software support (and in the latter case from selling the packaged software). But there is an open market, just as there is in buying and selling wheat.

Ultimately software is only a series of ones and zeroes (if only I'd patented it...) and these days is very very ubiquitous. You don't have to be in IT for very long to realise that the biggest software issue is support. I have the source code to some programs that I'm legally not allowed to change (it's written in Turbo Pascal, so I might not want to anyway). So the code has been abandoned, and this is happening all the time.

I'd recommend writing the code for free (as is done with most Linux software) and making money from hardware or software support. Strangely enough, even Microsoft is leaning this way.

- John Airey, BSc (Jt Hons), CNA, RHCE Internet systems support officer, ITCSD, Royal National Institute of the Blind, Bakewell Road, Peterborough PE2 6XU, Tel.: +44 (0) 1733 375299 Fax: +44 (0) 1733 370848 John.Airey@rnib.org.uk

What is "real"? How do you define "real"? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then "real" is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain... (Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999)

-

NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email's content. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and then delete the email and any attachments from your system.

RNIB has made strenuous efforts to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by its staff are free from viruses. However, it cannot accept any responsibility for any viruses which are transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.

Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RNIB.

RNIB Registered Charity Number: 226227

Website: http://www.rnib.org.uk