nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Actually, I won't be afraid at all if all there is only free software in
> the world, why should I?  As strange as it gets, free software is not
> put out by basement geeks in their spare time and all software needs
> tweaks and maintanence and that means jobs, only better as all
> infrastructure tools are free as well.

The problem is that a free-software-only world will shift the software market,
and leave no room for "small developers".

Either you will work for a big company to adapt & extend existing software to
their needs (which then *may* happen to be released to the public for free as a
spin-off), or you will develop software as a hobby just for fun. No in-between
anymore.

No room for people writing comparatively small pieces of software for fun *and*
making a living on it.

Can you imagine anyone paying for shareware if it is not only *technically*
possible to circumvent trial periods and registration code checks (because the
source code must be made open), but also *morally* perfectly fine to do so
(because after all the author did release it under the GPL, i.e. as free
software, so actually he has no right to demand money for it from me, has he)?

Well, I can imagine people paying for such tools, but I guess their number will
drastically decrease, and the feeling that it's still right to pay for
shareware will erode over time even in those people who currently still have
that attitude.

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