Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 15:59:34 -0600 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Thomas David Rivers <rivers@dignus.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG, ragnar@sysabend.org Subject: Re: BSD, GPL, the world today. Message-ID: <373B4B46.8DDE6A1E@softweyr.com> References: <199905131500.LAA42450@lakes.dignus.com>
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Thomas David Rivers wrote: > > Actually - this comes down to the argument of what the market will > bear, contract law, and the legal ramifications of bugs/problems. > > You "bought" the software, and agreed to the license terms > when you opened the box, didn't you - Caveat Emptor. That's a pretty fine legal point that hasn't fully been settled yet, but the court cases seem to be leaning towards throwing it out. The shrink wrap license may finally! become a stupidity of the past within the next few years. > As long as you keep buying it, people/companies will keep making it. That is how the world, at least the capitalist world, works. If you don't like what you got, vote with your wallet and buy something else, or nothing. Microsoft Office is a great example of this. It has *always* had credible competitors, and still does, ones that have roughly comparable features, roughly comparable quality, and far better prices, and yet it still eats up some 80% of the marketplace. Why? Other than some predatory practices on the part of Microsoft, coercing PC manufacturers to pay $100 for Office OEM kits when they can buy Corel SuitePerfect for $8, I can't say. It's just totally beyond me. > And, being a software manafacturer myself (see http://www.dignus.com) - the > thought of having legal responsibility for a potential problem in my > software (which you've mentioned, despite anyone's best efforts, will > have bugs) is very scary. I would want to pass that responsibility to > the developers who wrote it, just as a bridge engineer is responsible > for the bridge he designs. I'm with you so far, and trust me, you ARE responsible for problems in your software. Anyone who can prove either negliegence or misintent can sue you for damages regardless of how many feet of tiny type you put on your packaging. > Then, the developers would, presumably, have > to become licensed and have professional development/malpractice insurance... > which ultimately drives up the price of the software. Would it really? I think we just have a skewed idea of the total cost of software. How expensive is that $39 word processor when it crashes and dumps the last four hours of your work into the bit bucket? I think a lot of current software has a much higher cost than we really account for. > So, as everyone else, we disclaim everything up-front in our license > agreement and sell our software at reasonable prices. No, we sell it at prices that people are willing to pay for it. They might be willing to pay more, if they more fully understood the true cost, but I doubt it. Lets face it, MOST software is sold, or at least oriented towards, those of us here the "land of the all you can eat buffet." All that crashware (not implying yours here!) isn't necessarily cheap, but it is flat-rate. ;^) > But -hackers isn't likely the place for this... Right, so I've replied to -chat, and directed replies there. -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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