Linked by David Adams on Mon 16th Aug 2004 17:44 UTC
I read something in one of the comments for an OSNews posting a couple weeks ago that sent me thinking. It wasn't an original or profound thought. In fact, it's a rather commonly-held opinion that happens to be quite misguided. It's an opinion summed up by the "open source = communist" meme that gets thrown around in thousands of flamewars all over the internet. In this essay, I will explore why this idea is wrong and demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of economics.
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"And at one time many corporations probably felt the same way about their $10,000 dollar software too.
Would you feel the same way if others where selling equivilent software for $19.95? Or gving it away as a free download? Software is nothing. It has no intrinsic value simply by existing like material goods do. It costs nothing to reproduce. The only value that a program has is the value we artificaly assign it."
Devon, you're so hopelessly confused that I almost don't have the heart to respond, but here goes.
Who the hell are you to DECIDE whether that $10,000 piece of software that that company bought with their OWN MONEY was "worth it"? Why in the hell else would they buy it? Can't you even fathom for a second that people and businesses are not lemmings that need to be "rescued" from "artificially inflated" prices? They BOUGHT IT. They paid the MONEY. Because it saves them TIME and MONEY and that makes them more efficient which means they will earn MORE MONEY. It's so goddamn simple. A business DOESN'T BUY THINGS THAT COST MORE THAN THEY WILL EVER EARN. You don't run a business this way.
SOFTWARE is TIME. And TIME is MONEY. Time has value--tangible, real, value. Businesses thirty years ago bought billing and tracking computer systems because it's CHEAPER than DOING IT BY HAND. That's the whole point of every software purchase--it enables business to be faster and more efficient.
Do you have any idea what the world was like before software? People did business with paper, telephones, checks, and signatures! How barbaric! Payroll, taxes, banking, financial markets--all done with paper! Computers have absolutely REVOLUTIONIZED business. Don't think for a second that software purchases are to make managers or CEOs feel better. Or to make secretaries feel self important or give their wrists a good workout.
Software has VALUE.
Why in the hell else would we be having this discussion!!??