On Dec 16, 2004, at 4:37 PM, Michael Latta wrote:

> This brings up something I was thinking about recently.  Is it kosher 
> to charge for enhancements to Squeak?  Even if you adhere to the 
> letter of the license, is it socially acceptable to this community.  
> What if the next release of MC cost $5, what if a JIT cost $25.  By 
> the time you purchased various pieces you would be into real money.  
> On the other hand money motivates.  But, given all the work already 
> placed in Squeak, can the late-comers ask for money given what they 
> are receiving already there in the community?  Many contributions may 
> come from funded research, where this is not an issue.  I would like 
> to know what some old and new members think.
>

Charging for Squeak enhancements could work but it is probably a bad 
idea in the Microsoft sense.

Things like the "Street Performer's Protocol" were designed to function 
in a world with little to no strict copyright enforcement.

The way we got into this current software mess is the fact that most 
software is written by corporations, and is considered an asset of the 
corporation; users of the software have only limited rights of use. The 
Street Performer's Protocol means that software (or anything else) 
becomes a work for hire, and a public good once it is finished and the 
author has been paid in full for it.

There are other ways of doing it, but you get the idea, the payment is 
for the work performed and not for a copy of the software.

--Jeff