I understand why one wouldn't make software open-source. It's difficult to make a profit from software then. You either have to charge for a service, similar to Red Hat, or charge a subscription for continuous updates (for the convenience).
Sure, under the GPL, you can charge for access to the source code, but if someone wants, they can pay and then post it online freely, which then may undercut the business.
It would be nice if there were some compromise, like if after 10-20 years without being updated, the source code of software weren't protected by copyright anymore.
Edit: Then again, Aseprite is open-source, yet people still buy it on Steam instead of compiling it themselves. It seems like people will pay for binaries out of convenience, too.
Sure, under the GPL, you can charge for access to the source code, but if someone wants, they can pay and then post it online freely, which then may undercut the business.
It would be nice if there were some compromise, like if after 10-20 years without being updated, the source code of software weren't protected by copyright anymore.
Edit: Then again, Aseprite is open-source, yet people still buy it on Steam instead of compiling it themselves. It seems like people will pay for binaries out of convenience, too.