Sell the Windows version (if you own the copyright) [LWN.net]

Sell the Windows version (if you own the copyright)

Posted Dec 17, 2004 19:37 UTC (Fri) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698)
Parent article: Porting free software to Windows

I've been working on a somewhat exotic non-mainstream application. It's been available as free software (GPL) for a few years now. I frequently get requests for a Windows version. I've tried to encourage others to port it to Windows, to no avail. I despise developing for Windows, but decided that based on how many people want it, I would in fact produce a Windows port. I cross-compile it from Linux. The application mostly works on Windows, but there are some issues that I still need to resolve.

But...

I'm going to sell the Windows version as closed-source. This works only because I own the copyright to the program. It wouldn't be practical for an established large free software application, because there would not be any way to get all of the copyright holders to agree to it.

I've already had a dozen people tell me that they want to buy the Windows version of my application when it's available.

Since the non-Windows version is still GPL'd, there's nothing to prevent someone else from doing a free Windows port, but I doubt that it will happen.

I'm looking forward to collecting a "Windows Tax" to fund future development of both the Windows and non-Windows versions of my program.

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Sell the Windows version (if you own the copyright)

Posted Jan 4, 2005 22:25 UTC (Tue) by sepreece (subscriber, #19270) [Link]

I think this misses a major point. If one of the key arguments for open source software is that the larger community of developers improves the software faster than a single vendor could, then two things seem to fall out:

1) putting open software on Windows, with its much greater number of potential users, will make it get better faster, and

2) putting your otherwise open software on Windows as closed software will make it impossible for that user community to help you improve the software, so it will get better slower

I think the primary goal of a FLOSS project should be whatever the project participants want it to be; for some projects that might be to advance the FLOSS philosophy, for others it might be to advance the software the project builds. Every member of the community may have her own opinion as to whether one or the other is the loftier goal, but I think we should all take pleasure in contributing to making the debate possible.

Sell the Windows version (if you own the copyright)

Posted Jan 4, 2005 23:11 UTC (Tue) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698) [Link]

So these hypothetical improvements to the code that I'd miss out by making the Windows version non-free would be from the same Windows developers that have not volunteered to help me port the program to Windows in the first place? I don't think I'll be missing much.