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by James Robertson.
Original Post: More on Free and Open
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Hey, I'm not saying we can't all make a buck. But there's no reason for Clemens to piss all over someone else's views of open source software. Call it socialist or communist if you want (maybe bad blood coming from a German?) ... it doesn't matter. It's free, it's shared, it's open. Sounds like he's just afraid of being marginalized. Free software is going to commoditize the software market one segment at a time, he's just going to have to get used to that. More programmers will make money in services -- customizing software for specific tasks.
That was in response to Clemen's screed on giving software away. Clemens has a follow up where he clarifies the "free vs. free" thing. Here's my 2 cents - stating that everyone should "get over it" and realize that the money will shift to services is incredibly naive. As Clemens says, that theory will lead to huge profits for entities like IBM's Global Services (et. al.), and small amounts of dough for the rest of us. Ryan's theory works out fine for the guy who's in his early 20's, has no wife, no kids, and doesn't mind hopping on an airplane frequently to do services work. It works a lot less well for people who are a bit older, have families (including small children) who kind of want to see Mom and/or Dad on a regular basis. I've done the heavy travel gig - and believe me, it takes a toll on your family life. It can also easily become a "broadening" (in the waistline sense) experience.
Many areas of software are becoming commoditized, and that will continue as the industry matures. However, that doesn't mean that the people working on commodity software don't have bills to pay. The desire to stay home more often and pay your bills ontime is not selfish, and those who seem to think it is just haven't thought it through completely.
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