A company like Red Hat can make lots of dough
> selling its services, but if ever it were to claim proprietary
> interest in the source code and/or make decisions that weren't in the
> public good (alas rather narrowly defined in this context), people
> could and would quickly jump ship. This issue is all the more germane
> given the truly onerous Digital RIghts Management (DRM) features of
> Vista, which are described in all their gory detail in the article
> which Dwayne alluded to in another thread earlier today.
The fact that Red Hat is making money off of a free product is very interesting. It flies in the face of the notion that a company has to sell physical products and control everything about the production and distribution of those products.
I'm not the first person to say this, but there have been quite a few people who have pointed out that the music industry can still make money even if large amounts of music and content are being obtained for free (piracy). When I talk about this with friends, I outline three ways why the music industry can still make money when file-sharing is pervasive and popular:
1) Convenience - Even though file-sharing is easy, not everybody can figure out how to use the software. Most people don't have the time to download files through Limewire or even through official services like iTunes. The success of ITunes proves this point, as it has made it easy for mroe people to download music, manage their collections, and transfer it to portable listening devices. CDs are still selling. People will pay money for convenience, which is obvious given that the American economy revolves around convenience. 2) Collectibles - People will spend money on collectibles. That's why almost any house or apartment has a collection of CDs. Some of you know music geeks whose walls are lined with record albums. People will buy concert t-shirts, posters, special editions, and Grateful Dead recordings. 3) Services to bands - While many bands and musicians dislike the music industry, many of them still have a desire to be popular. Making arbitrary musicians popular is something the music industry does well. The industry can provide promotional services to musicians, provide business services, and organize shows and tours.
Please don't forward this to the music industry. I don't want to give them any money-making ideas. ;-)
Chuck