Re:Yes it can (Score 1)

This is exactly the problem we are trying to solve with Cosource.com. That is, how can you make a living writing free software?

As we know, in traditional licensed software, you sink a large speculative R&D effort, protect the result with copyright (or patent) and then hope to recoup that investment (and turn a profit) by selling licenses of the software over time for some price. People who don't pay can't legally use the software.

For software that satisfies the Open Source definition, copies are required to be free. So how can a developer ever hope to recoup the large sunk R&D expense?

An answer is to gather together AHEAD OF TIME a group of motivated buyers (for whom the software solves an important problem) who commit to pay for a particular software application/feature/bugfix if someone succeeds in developing it. Upon completion, it can be released as open source and freely copied. The buyers must be types who don't worry about free riders -- their only concern must be that they want this software to exist to solve some problem/need they have.

There needs to be a service to provide a legal framework to take these commitments, manage sucess/failure of the developer's effort, and then collect payments from the multiple buyers and pay the developer. It's a "market maker" role for open source software needs.

That's what Cosource.com does. Check it out!

Bernie Thompson
Founder, Cosource.com