   Selling GNU software
  I'm developing a game for Android. It's going to be open source.And I plan to sell it on the Android Market.If I'm not wrong everyone can sell GNU software. The freedomfor distributing the software.Does that mean someone can take my game and sell it in the market.Or just put the game in the market for free?If so, is some license I can use, still open source, but limiting my directcompetition in the market?An extreme example: Can I just take all Android GNU software, and distributein the market for 1$. Just waiting for some careless user to buy them.Thanks in advance.   
Quote:Original post by franbcnI'm developing a game for Android. It's going to be open source.And I plan to sell it on the Android Market.If I'm not wrong everyone can sell GNU software. The freedomfor distributing the software.Does that mean someone can take my game and sell it in the market.Or just put the game in the market for free?If so, is some license I can use, still open source, but limiting my directcompetition in the market?An extreme example: Can I just take all Android GNU software, and distributein the market for 1$. Just waiting for some careless user to buy them.Thanks in advance.If its licensed under the GNU GPL then you can sell it and anyone you sell it to can make their own copies and sell or give away (This effectivly pushes the price towards zero), The best way around this is to use a different license for the data (This ofcourse only works if the data is a significant part of what you're selling) (Pretty much all commercial GPL software works by selling something other than the actual software, usually services or data)Microsoft has some "shared source" licenses that might be a better fit for youMS-RSL for example lets the end user see the code for reference purposes but doesn't allow redistribution, It all really depends on what rights you wish to give your users and what code you wish to use that you didn't write yourself.The GPL gives you access to a large amount of code from other people but also prevents you from using alot of code that isn't compatible with the GPL so its generally not a great license unless you really want to write "free software" as per the FSF definition or the amount of GPL licensed code that you can borrow outweighs the cost of having to release your own code under the same license.   ;Quote:Original post by franbcnAn extreme example: Can I just take all Android GNU software, and distributein the market for 1$. Just waiting for some careless user to buy them.Yes, sadly many people do just that.Disregarding ethics, there is nothing preventing you from selling links to Free software on ebay, and there are people who do exactly that.If you have ethics, you will generally do something that adds value in exchange for the money, or you will make it clear that the money is a simple donation to your cause.  It is a more solid and consistent business plan.  With that money you can provide support, or provide a physical disc, or provide something that is of additional value.   ;  You'd be surprised how effective selling GNU software on a physical medium can be. When work to add a few scarcities (in this case, CDs/DVDs), you can actually add value that people are willing to pay for. Aside from that, selling bits directly over the Internet? Kinda silly when you can find it for free at the original site in most cases...   ;  You can easily make your game Open Source and still be the only one to make money from it by not open sourcing your assets (art, music, scripts).   ;  I believe you can distribute the object code and notify purchasers they can obtain source code directly from you.  The GPL only requires redistribution of the source code to purchasers of the game or that you at least notify them that it is available upon request.  As noted, the audio visual elements would still be protected by separate copyright but a user code reverse engineer your techniques in developing the game.  So if you have proprietary tools or APIs they would be subject to the GPL (hence it's "viral" nature).  That being said, piracy of games is rampant on iphone/Android market (50-90% in some estimates) and the overall glut of games makes the probability that you will lose significant revenue very low.  The question is whether you want to disclose internally developed tools that are integrated with GPL code.  Good luck!   ;  If your product has an enthralling demo, is correctly priced, and has a nice purchase sequence, then many users won't take the steps to find a free version online. Not all users, perhaps not even most users, but you'll still get customers.Besides, getting a lot of free downloads for your first game means free advertising for your second game. Natural Selection and Creeper World relied on that.Quote:Original post by frobIf you have ethics, you will generally do something that adds value in exchange for the money, or you will make it clear that the money is a simple donation to your cause.Yep. Of course, the effort it takes to package, market and advertise a product also counts as adding value to that product [smile] never underestimate the amount of time and skill required for your average customer to find, download and install an open source solution.;  Hi, thank you for the answers.Quote:Original post by SimonForsmanMicrosoft has some "shared source" licenses that might be a better fit for youMS-RSL for example lets the end user see the code for reference purposes but doesn't allow redistribution, It all really depends on what rights you wish to give your users and what code you wish to use that you didn't write yourself.Something in my brain screw up mixing Microsoft and open source. But is good to know :)Quote:Original post by KonfusiusYou can easily make your game Open Source and still be the only one to make money from it by not open sourcing your assets (art, music, scripts).I think I will go in that direction.   