Re: RPG 400 code on the NET -- RPG400-L

Jim,

Just some more thoughts about shared code made publicly available under GPL or
freeware/shareware:

More than likely, a routine (like: build Fxx key availability on the fly into a 
text
string) will be made commercially available as a service program with a small 
fee.
Just off the top of my head, I could structure such a license that I would 
receive
$0.01 (1 cent) for each program that called the service program per cpu 
installation.
Now that may not seem like much, but if an application suite has 1,000 
interactive
programs and the vendor installs their suite at 100 clients, that would yield me
$1,000 for the service program.  Or $10 for a single AS/400 installation to use 
it
in-house for 1,000 interactive programs.

(Let's see, 500,000+ AS/400's @ 1% usage = 5,000 machines @ $10/each = $50,000 
where
only 2% actually contribute under "shareware" nets $1,000.  Still not bad for a
weekends work and a "by line")

IMHO, even this scenario is fraught with problems.  As I've set up a Linux box 
and
have been learning it, I have discovered a gazillion programs that perform 
similar
functions to choose from.  The hard part is keeping track of them all, learning 
their
interfaces and dependencies.  Not to mention how does one police the usage to 
ensure
just compensation?  Is monitoring built in? How?

I suppose I could take all of my in-house tools, program templates, and /COPY 
members,
put them on a CD and write a book about our standards practice that this all 
hinges
upon and sell it on late night TV for $19.95 (4.95 S&H) <g>

Well, we come back full circle, in that the cost of policeing/promoting may 
very well
exceed revenues, so one may as well put it out for public consumption as a 
resume
builder, bypass the lawyers and get on with the "joy" of problem solving.

Now, just as a side note, I have observed that more and more of my clients are 
giving
their employees a monthly "spending allowance" to purchase books or software 
that they
feel will make their jobs more productive.  We're not talking about big bucks, 
but it
does give an in-house staff member the power to "purchase" a shareware product 
without
the usual red tape.

Who knows, our brethren in the trenches may cough up the $10 just to get a pat 
on the
back from their boss.

Jim Langston wrote:

> I don't' think we want to do that, Paul.  If I use someone's code snippet
> in a program I write, I want to be able to turn around and sell that
> program.

<<snip>>

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