I care a lot about having the source of programs available (freedoms 0 and 1), but there's one thing that's always concerned me. Everyone says that "you can st

I care a lot about having the source of programs available (freedoms 0 and 1), but there's one thing that's always concerned me. Everyone says that "you can still charge for free software, as long as the source is GPLed", and hence the model is a drop-in replacement for the standard software-vendor model. As long as you trust the goodwill of people, you believe that those who want to use your work will pay full price for it. But when you give everyone the right to redistribute, for any cost they choose, I feel that might jeopardize potential sales. For example, a friend of mine wrote an image processing application with a very niche and important application. He wanted to sell it for $200 a copy, lower than what most commercial tools for the same functionality cost. He also wanted to release it as open source/free software. However, if anyone bought a copy of his software, that person could legally redistribute for free or for a very low cost, say $10. If this person's publicity is better, he/she'll get more sales for a tool he didn't even write. And someone who isn't endowed with a large enough budget would love to get the software from a legally clean channel. And yes, it even results in atrocities like this - http://cgi.ebay.com/Audacity-1-2-6-audio-editor-computer-software_W0QQitemZ280446402896QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item414be88150 http://cgi.ebay.com/Audacity-1-2-6-audio-editor-computer-sof... . Mark Pilgrim's book got re-distributed on the Kindle for a nonzero charge ( http://diveintomark.org/archives/2009/10/19/the-point http://diveintomark.org/archives/2009/10/19/the-point ) and he handled it in a very mature, respectable and elegant manner. I wish someone can explain to me how a non SaaS model - where one writes software for a requirement and sells it as binaries - will work effectively when someone can just re-sell your work or give it away for free. I don't have any trouble with someone making a few bucks sneakily, but when it prevents me from selling my software for my livelihood, I will be concerned. I am still young and inexperienced and potentially very wrong about all of this. If that is the case, please correct me.