Open Source vs. Closed Source

[Christopher Schmidt]

On Sat, Jan 14, 2006 at 03:39:41PM -0500, Bruce Dawson wrote:
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> Christopher Schmidt wrote:
> 
> |...
> 
> |Given that this is a relatively simple program (The original version is
> |less than 100 lines of code properly spaced), is there a better, more
> |open way to attempt to make money off the application? To be honest, I'm
> |not entirely convinced that the path I've chosen will work, but I also
> |know that providing the source to applications has never gotten me a
> |dime, so a single person with enough interest in what I've done can not
> |only make my day, but increase my return on investment.
> 
> Have you thought of providing the source for free, but charge for an
> installable binary (perhaps as an installation package)?
> 
> A lot of software for PDA's is a pain to build and download to the
> device. I'm willing to pay for a service/product that gives me that
> convenience (and the original source).

Not an option in this case, since the source code can be shipped over to
the phone and run just as easily: if you have a .py (which is the heart
of this code), you can send it to the phone, and opening the message in
which its recieved automatically installs it as a program choice in the
Python interpreter (where all the Python apps run).

So, although that would be a good idea, it's not one that I can follow
up on in this situation.

The other languages that run on the phone -- Java and C++ -- would allow
this to be an option, but both make coding much more difficult, and it's
way out of my realm of possibilities for this reason :) I don't know
either Java or C++, and the idea of doing bluetooth socket programming
in either scares me. 

-- 
Christopher Schmidt
Mobile Application Developer
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