Stefan's headers [was:Names and identifiers]

[Gregory Ewing]

Chris Angelico wrote:

> The bit you trimmed out was:
> 
>>If the business model had always been "sell hardware, it comes fully
>>programmed", what would bring people to try to create third-party
>>software at all?

Maybe because they want to do things with the machine that
the manufacturer didn't anticipate? Maybe they just enjoy
programming and do it for fun?

Also, the business model doesn't have to be "sell hardware
that's fully programmed". It could be just "sell hardware,
it runs all this wonderful open source software you can
get".

> my point was that, absent copyright and
> the ability to make money from software, software probably *would not
> exist*.

There are some historical and present-day facts that don't
support that idea.

* Software existed in the days before it became seen as
something to be sold for money per-copy. Both computer
companies and programmers seemed to to all right in that
environment.

* Currently there exist people who choose to write and
distribute software free of charge, even though they could
charge for it if they wanted due to copyright laws.

* Charging money for copies of software is not the only
way to make money from programming. You can charge for
support services. You can charge for writing custom
one-off software. There are people who make a good
living from doing these things.

> Tell me, do you go to a car manufacturer and buy the ability
> to use a third-party dashboard? If the dashboard itself is
> fundamentally unsaleable, and MUST be given away for free, who other
> than the original manufacturer will produce one?

That's a strained analogy, because there is a substantial
per-unit cost for making a dashboard.

But if it were possible to make your own dashboard at home
with a 3D printer for very little cost, I can well imagine
a hobbyist community springing up around designing and
making custom dashboards.

And if that community got big enough, I can imagine a car
company marketing a model that comes without any dashboard,
so you can install the dashboard of your choice.

Just like there are people that will sell you a computer
without any OS, so you can install the OS of your choice.

-- 
Greg