
Free Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business (2008) - johnchristopher
https://www.wired.com/2008/02/ff-free/
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mimixco
11 years on and this is still prescient. Certainly free is the future of
software for nearly all users, a huge shift _back_ to its origins where
software was given away and freely copied to support machine sales.

We are entering the era where software again wants to be free but now, instead
of selling metal, we lease it to people as a subscription along with bug fixes
and support. We are truly returning to the very origins of mainframe and
personal computing.

~~~
lostmymind66
This is the direct result of 20+ years of piracy. Most companies realized they
not only didn't want to have to deal with having to re-create serial number
generation systems every 6 months, but also the attorney fees involved in
chasing bigger organizations making money on it.

SaaS is a great solution: a more steady and reliable income stream and no
piracy concerns.

~~~
mimixco
I don't think so. It's more the result of enterprise users needing full access
to source code so that it can be audited for security issues and modified to
meet their needs. This is where computing began, before piracy was a concept.
In the 80's the industry moved to "object code only," as IBM called it, and
what we are seeing now is the ultimate backlash against that. Enterprise
businesses don't pirate software anyway so I don't think that's a significant
factor.

