Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!uunet!image.soe.clarkson.edu!news
From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Software Tax: how and why?
Message-ID: 
Date: 16 Aug 89 02:49:06 GMT
References: <3674@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>
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Organization: Clarkson University, Postdam NY
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In-reply-to: jnh@ecemwl.ncsu.edu's message of 15 Aug 89 21:40:36 GMT

In article <3674@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> jnh@ecemwl.ncsu.edu (Joseph N. Hall) writes:

   I WOULD like to see less "software hoarding," and I AM willing to make a
   contribution of my own ... but I'm not willing to be either penniless or
   intellectually stifled as a result.  Useful software SHOULD be left to the
   public, so that we programmers can quit reinventing the wheel and begin
   inventing its replacement ... but how?

One free-market solution is to insist upon payment *before* the creation
of the software.  This requires that the programmer have a reputation for
delivering the goods.  For example, if rms were to ask everyone for a
$100 contribution so that he could sit down and work uninterrupted on
the GNU Kernel, I believe that he would get many, many hundreds of dollars.
Certainly *I* would break open the piggy bank.

He could, for example, estimate that it would take him six months to
write a kernel.  He might reasonably expect to make $15,000 to $20,000
in that time by doing his normal consulting.  Therefore, he would need
150 to 200 contributions.  Of course, there would be a deadline for
the contributions to arrive.  If he didn't get that many by the
deadline, he would send them back.  He could set up an escrow account
to store the money during the time the contributions were arriving.

This ensures that people will either get the software they have paid
for, or else they will get their money back.  And if the deadline and
the amount of contributions still needed are well known, then people
who want the software will know that they either have to dig deeper,
or rough up their friends.  :-)

There could even be a deadline for completion of the software.  If the
deadline is missed, then the money in escrow (or a portion thereof)
would be returned.

One advantage is that it reduces the risk that the programmer takes.  He
is guaranteed a given amount of money if he completes the software.  It
also guarantees that he would not be able to get rich.
--
--russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu])|(70441.205@compuserve.com)|
       (Russ.Nelson@f360.n260.z1.fidonet.org)|(BH01@GEnie.com :-)