On Tuesday 10 Mar 2009, Aasif Shaikh wrote:
I am new to GNU/Linux and Open Source world. I had seen lots of open source stable projects on internet, which anybody can download, modify and sell to anybody.
Now the question arises; if a *PERSON A* develops a stable and good project as an Open Source and upload it over the internet and the *PERSON B* from some other country downloads and modify it with his name as an author (basically he is stealing someone's code) and sell it to some company to make money out of it. So how this *PERSON A* is going to be benefited.
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/magic-cauldron/
Summary (by Eric Raymond): This essay analyzes the evolving economic substrate of the open-source phenomenon. I first explode some prevalent myths about the funding of program development and the price structure of software. I then present a game-theory analysis of the stability of open-source cooperation. I present nine models for sustainable funding of open-source development; two non-profit, seven for-profit. I then continue to develop a qualitative theory of when it is economically rational for software to be closed. I then examine some novel additional mechanisms the market is now inventing to fund for-profit open-source development, including the reinvention of the patronage system and task markets. I conclude with some tentative predictions of the future.
Slightly dated, but still a valid examination of how to make money from FOSS.
Regards,
-- Raju