Python Shareware?

[D-Man]

On Sat, Jun 09, 2001 at 04:09:11AM +0000, Brad Bollenbach wrote:
| "Jonathan Gardner" <gardner at cardomain.com> wrote in message
| news:9fr2jm$16v$1 at brokaw.wa.com...
<snip>
| > There is another benefit to you of free software: If you are
| > really good at programming, you can show off with your GPL'ed
| > code, and use that to get into a company that is willing to pay
| > you to code stuff for them. You can't show off code that is
| > closed-source, like code from, say, your previous job. So, with
| > your GPL'ed code (which has been tested and developed by people
| > who are actually interested in using it, so it will be much better
| > than anything you can write on your own) you can claim a lot of
| > credit for it, and demand $100,000 or more for salary. If they
| > think you are crazy, tell them to read the code and try the
| > software. If they want to produce software like that, then they
| > have to hire you.
| 
| Other than the really big names (a la Torvalds, GvR, Wall et al.) this
| rarely happens. At the very least, when good programmers get good jobs, it's
| because they are very bright people who have a lot to offer, not because of
| the license they choose for their software. Realistically, most PHB's have
| less than half-a-clue about what the GPL is (*hyuck* *hyuck* isn't that
| onnuh them globawl pawsitioning thingmahoots?)

I think Jonathan's point was mainly "how are you going to convince a
company that you really are a good programmer if you can't show them
any of the code you have written?" (aside from discussing personal
beliefs wrt the problems with shareware).  If your code is GPL'd (or,
more precisely,  free / open source) then you _can_ show it to a
prospective future employer, but if all the code you have written is
either owned by a previous employer, or part of your closed-source
shareware then you can't show them.  The main issue, apart from issues
with the way shareware works from a business perspective, is to create
a way to demonstrate that you are a good programmer.

-D