Aasif Shaikh wrote:
Hi All,
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.
If person B uses code developed by person A then he is free to do it under GPL but he is not allowed to change the title of creator and has to acknowledge person A's contribution in the credits.
Person A earns money for making the software, by an institution sponsoring it or he does it voluntarily. In both cases he gets to earn on providing service and support for that software if users require it. If the software is a complex one to setup and customise, then users would prefer to go to the original maker instead of a third party.