On 23 August 2012 14:39, John Jones <mr.johnjones@gmail.com> wrote:
[...] knew what protection there is for the developers of software if anyone can charge, say, $1000 for an alignment using free tools that takes only an hour to run.
Many open source licenses will permit anyone to charge for redistributing the software and/or reselling services regarding the software. It is up to the users of the software to realize that they do not need to pay fees, which I think makes a lot of sense because the only other option would be to sue license violators. At least I cannot afford such a thing. Making money out of open source software is also not a bad thing. You can get Linux for free, or you can pay RedHat many monies for also receiving additional services. You can install Darwin for free, or you pay and get Apple's extensions on top of it. Best, Joachim