

Unlike proprietary software, why is it difficult to sell Open source software - known


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maxharris
By "sell," I assume you mean "get people to use." (Few will pay for software
that they can legally download, unless they are somehow convinced to donate
some other way. Few will pay for support for software, especially if it is
good, which means that it is intuitive and reliable enough to not require
support.)

Some (definitely not all) open source software lacks the other 90% of the
stuff people want, including good design (visual or otherwise), good
documentation, etc. Many new features that commercial software has are
important (it's not obvious because different users depend on different sets
of those new features).

The exceptions exist (for example, Firefox is well-designed, and has lots of
new features), but they are just that - exceptions. Try to find a good 3D
modeling package that's open source. Blender you say? Not many in the gaming
industry uses, and that's because it simply isn't competitive with 3ds Max.

Also, some people (myself included) have moral problems with the GPL, so they
try to avoid using GPLed software whenever possible. (Things are getting
easier for me because most of the open source software I use today is BSD or
MIT licensed.)

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scottporad
I am unfamiliar with the moral problems people have with GPL. I have no
personal interest in the GPL, but am just curious. For our education, would
you elaborate on that?

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veyron
Support.

With a paid product, I know that I paid money and expect a level of support
commensurate with that. I know that, if something goes wrong, I can pick up a
phone and contact someone. The quality may not be great, but at least it
exists.

With an open source product, that does not necessarily exist. I find myself
searching through catacombs to find anyone that can respond to my requests.
And immediate turnaround time? forget it. Even with the paid open source
software, the turnaround time is terrible (take red hat as an example). Quite
frankly, I dont think anyone who tried to sell open-source software really
tried to solve the support problem.

