Open-Source Software: Who Needs Intellectual Property? | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty - 0 views
www.thefreemanonline.org/...ho-needs-intellectual-property
*net *expertise *reputation *ipr *intellectualproperty
shared by Kurt Laitner on 12 Nov 10
- No Cached
-
First, understand that the market for open-source software is a classic example of a competitive market. It is characterized by the voluntary renunciation of copyright and patent.
-
Some open-source software has the further requirement that as a condition of use, buyers make their modification available under the same terms
- ...9 more annotations...
-
purchasers of copies of software programs also have a demand for services—ranging from support and consulting to customization
-
the source of competitive returns that pay the bills of software developers is the complementary sale of expertise
-
the customization and testing conducted by Red Hat is costly. So Red Hat faces a substantial fixed cost of providing its software.
-
Notice that the premium charged by Red Hat was not likely due to the physical scarcity of copies. Rather, it was for the sale of expertise that came with developing the system. Anyone who uses computer software knows that it rarely functions as expected. If you buy software and have a question or problem, whom would you prefer to call? The people who wrote and developed the program? Or the people who duplicated the CD?
-
This blurb from the Red Hat website’s promotional material makes clear what customers are paying for: “Unlimited access to service and support: Subscriptions include ongoing service and support to guarantee your systems remain secure, reliable, and up-to-date. When you have a technical question, you’ll speak to Red Hat Certified Software Engineers. Or you can access a self-serve knowledge base of technical information and updates.”
-
Notice how this market works: First expertise is passed from the developers to Red Hat Certified Software Engineers. Then others acquire the expertise, the stock of expertise expands, and the price at which it can be sold drops. Of course, in the meantime innovations are created, and new expertise is generated.
-
Work by Il-Horn Hann et al. shows that the salaries the programmers receive in these other jobs are heavily influenced by their rank within the Apache Foundation. In other words, the “expertise” model at Apache is much like that in academia—the programmer writes software in order to receive recognition and financial payment for the expertise he demonstrates through his published product.
-
The message of open-source software is a message for all industries: IP not needed for innovation here.