[Linux-aus] Fwd: [A2k] IP Watch: The Development Agenda of Free Software

[Janet Hawtin]

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From: a2k at lists.essential.org
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Dear all,

just in time for the WIPO Development Agenda negotiations next
week, IP Watch has an in-depth article on the economic impact of
free software and its effect on development, written by
UNU-MERIT's Rishab Ghosh and Karsten Gerloff.  Drawing on the
recently published FLOSSIMPACT report, it argues that free
software enables a more effective kind of technology transfer: By
providing an informal training environment, it lets people
everywhere develop valuable IT skills.

As money is spent on services instead of licence fees, free
software allows most of the value added to be retained locally,
instead of being transferred to large corporations in the global
North.

Policies that level the playing field for free software will by no
means lead to the breakdown  of the software market:

        "In the software market, by far the most money is made in
        services and the development of tailor-made software. In the
        EU and in the US, under one fifth of software investment is in
        (proprietary) packaged software; the rest is in custom
        software and in-house software.

        In terms of jobs, firms selling proprietary packaged software
        account for well below 10 percent of employment of software
        developers in the US. Custom software developers and service
        providers account for about a third. But the majority of
        programmers work for "user" organizations such as banks, the
        retail and manufacturing sectors and government.

        The common argument against the use of free software in
        development - "what's the economics if you can't sell software
        you make" - is demonstrated to be false even for the US, with
        the largest information technology (and proprietary software)
        industry. As the software jobs and investment figures show, a
        small minority make money selling software. Most organizations
        - and a vast majority of programmers - make money selling
        their time spent writing or supporting software, but not
        selling the software itself. This is in fact the economic
        model of free software: sell potentially everything other than
        the software itself. The report shows that it is the
        proprietary software industry that is an anomaly in today's
        software market, with which the economics of free software is
        more in tune."

You can find the article here:
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=532&res=1280_ff&print=0

and the full FLOSSIMPACT report here:
http://flossimpact.eu/

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