> There have always been people in the business of selling information, (...) People will pay for information they think they can make money from.
Software, it seems to me, is information that people think they can make money from. That's why Microsoft needs Windows on all new PCs (so it's a toll-booth to consumers), and student/home use versions of Office are very cheap -- only businesses will actually pay for it.
It's even more clearly seen in the graphical world -- I have yet to meet a non-professional with a legal copy of PhotoShop or any of the other Adobe flagship products.
You also get more than just the content (and the medium) when you purchase software:
a) Peace of mind that the software won't harm your computer. There are situations where it does harm your computer, but at least you have someone to blame or try to seek redress from. You can never quite trust an executable file you obtain from someone other than the publisher to the extent that you can a legal copy.
b) Somebody to help you if you have problems with the software.
c) If you are really lucky, people working to make your software better even after you've already paid for it.
These selling points may not be important to a lot of people here, but they do add value for some users, and "media" types of information don't offer them.
Software is different, because, except for games, software is not the final good, software is a tool people use for other ends; Quicken or spreadsheets for finances, word or text processors for writing, databases for finding and managing information, many internet sites for communicating one to one or many to many (HN for example), and so on. It is confused with content because it is communicated the same way, the difference is in how it is used.
> Is software a counterexample?
No:
> There have always been people in the business of selling information, (...) People will pay for information they think they can make money from.
Software, it seems to me, is information that people think they can make money from. That's why Microsoft needs Windows on all new PCs (so it's a toll-booth to consumers), and student/home use versions of Office are very cheap -- only businesses will actually pay for it.
It's even more clearly seen in the graphical world -- I have yet to meet a non-professional with a legal copy of PhotoShop or any of the other Adobe flagship products.