Re: GNU licenses

[John Hasler]

I wrote:
> The marginal cost of creating a copy of a piece of software is close
> enough to zero as makes no difference.  And it is a _copy_ that the
> seller buys.

David Kastrup writes:
> Providing access to a copy is a service that has non-zero value in the
> market.  Even if one knows that the copy might be found somewhere cheaper
> if one hunts long enough for it.

That service has both value and cost.  The marginal cost of producing the
copy itself, however, is still nearly zero.  Thus the software industry is
a service industry, even for those participants who don't write any
software.  There really are no software "products".  Even Microsoft makes
most of its money providing access to copies, though it uses copyright to
artificially limit access and contorts itself to make the service look like
a product.


-- 
John Hasler 
john@dhh.gt.org
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA