Re: Developers/Free Software/Open Source

>
> Artists who produce poor art usually don't make money (unless it 
> contains something controversial, it seems). Artists who produce good 
> art also do not make money until well after they are dead. Some 
> artists got lucky and were commissioned to paint ceilings. The 
> majority were not. If this is how software developers are to be 
> reimbursed, is it possible - with all the leaps in technology and 
> culture that we have made - that we can find a better solution for 
> people who produce things that are used for more than decoration? 


I can easily argue the "Artists who produce poor art usually don't make 
money" statement with you. :)

That aside, problems faced by FOSS developers are exactly the same 
problems artists, writers, and musicians have faced for the past couple 
of dozen millenia.

There are two basic ways to approach art/writing/music/programming:

1 - Scratch my own itch

2 - Find a need and fill it

If you choose #1, you have a hobby. There is nothing wrong with a hobby, 
and  it is possible that  a passion for trading collectibles over the 
Internet could grow into eBay, or your observations on geek trends and 
some friends' responses to them could become Slashdot, but it's no wiser 
to bet on this outcome than it is to buy lottery tickets instead of 
saving money if your objective is to  build a nest egg or retirement fund.

Option #2 is classic, old-fashioned business.  There is no glamor to it, 
but it works. If the need is great enough, and you can fill it better 
than others and keep your costs lower than your income, you make money. 
If not, you close your doors and get a job. Write books and articles a 
lot of people want to read, do it better than others, keep your prices 
reasonable, and you are a successful writer.  If someone wants to pay 
you to write a corporate white paper, you don't turn it down because 
it's not art. You take the job, charge all the market will bear, and 
write your great novel after you get paid for the white paper job.

Most writers, artists, musicians, and programmers don't have very good 
business heads. An example of one who does is a guy I know named Verne, 
who lives in the L.A. area and is the absolute king of... pipe fitting 
clip art for plumbing catalogs. Verne is an excellent painter, but pipe 
fitting line drawings (and some food clips -- he does great lettuce) pay 
the mortgage, keep his wife's closet full of clothes, put the daughters 
through college, etc. Now and then Verne gets enough paintings together 
for a gallery show and he usually sells a few of them. He calls this his 
"Harley money" because he spends his fine art income on motorcycles. He 
has four of them -- all Harleys -- but it took him 25 years to buy them. 
Obviously, when it comes to income, pipe fitting line art is a better 
bet (for Verne) than impressionist painting.

Verne found a niche and filled it. He works, at most, 30 hours per week, 
and a good 10 hours of that is sales, billing, and collection. He used 
to work a lot harder, but his daughters are grown now so his income 
needs are reduced. He owns a little income property he hopes will 
support him in retirement. He is not poor. He is also not terribly 
ambitious. Verne would really rather ride his Harleys on Rte 1 than draw 
or paint. He started taking a businesslike attitude toward his work only 
because he got his girlfriend pregnant and married her. Before that he 
was not interested in money at all.

So far, the majority of successful "free software businesses" I see are 
in the business of solving client problems, and happen to use free 
software as a tool. Sure, they contribute back to the community, but 
community contribution isn't their primary motive. Their primary motive 
is to fill their customers' needs and turn a profit in the process.

You've heard me mention the idea of the development process itself 
becoming the  most valuable intellectual property a free software 
business can have. I did not mean that "the development process" was a 
product that could be boxed and sold, but that a major key to success in 
a "fill the customers' needs" business, especially when the needs you 
are filling have to do with software or network 
installations/maintenance, is the ability to operate with greater 
efficiency than competitors.

- to be continued -

- Robin