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If I develop software specific to the public sector and sell it to the government, it is "publicly financed software developed for the public sector". What is

If I develop software specific to the public sector and sell it to the government, it is "publicly financed software developed for the public sector". What is my incentive to develop any software at all for public sector, since potential client no. 2 will just take the code that I released? The ask does not state employed by... it just says: “Implement legislation requiring that publicly financed software developed for the public sector be made publicly available under a Free and Open Source Software licence.” I would be fine with “Implement legislation requiring that publicly financed software developed by employees of public sector, for the public sector be made publicly available under a Free and Open Source Software licence.”

postalrat 5y ago
Your incentive is that you are being paid.
- WaitWaitWha 5y ago
  Imagine "Microsoft Office"-complexity software developed specifically for public sector. Then, sold to public sector once, then everyone else is free to use it. Would Microsoft still develops Office? Unlikely.
  - yxhuvud 5y ago
    What would happen then is that the next public sector organization would want to pay someone to either fix bugs or to specialize the program to fit their needs better. And the more installations, the more this would happen. Maintenance is not free and the public sector would still have to pay the bill for it.
  - Rygian 5y ago
    Why would that be unlikely? If Microsoft's business model was to get paid to develop Office, then of course they would. (Obviously, Microsoft's actual business model is to capture and lock in, that's what makes your example look odd.)
  - tapland 5y ago
    The money is in the maintenance agreements.
  - Beltalowda 5y ago
    I mostly want the code to public as a matter of transparency. I'd be fine if it was released under a fairly restrictive license which would prevent this kind of re-use.
  - prepend 5y ago
    They would develop Office because they were paid to develop office. Also, government custom developed software is really wonky and the odds that the IP is sold is very low. The greater odds are that maintenance and follow on contracts will only be possible for the company that first wrote the software.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
rapind 5y ago
This is already very common in the private sector. Most businesses that require custom software will insist (via contract terms) that they “own” the software. There’s also licensed deals and subscription services etc. sure, but there’s a ton of custom proprietary software that consultants build (which often contain proprietary business logic). Custom always costs more of course, but this isn’t a new model by any stretch of the imagination.

postalrat 5y ago

Your incentive is that you are being paid.

WaitWaitWha 5y ago
Imagine "Microsoft Office"-complexity software developed specifically for public sector. Then, sold to public sector once, then everyone else is free to use it. Would Microsoft still develops Office? Unlikely.
- yxhuvud 5y ago
  What would happen then is that the next public sector organization would want to pay someone to either fix bugs or to specialize the program to fit their needs better. And the more installations, the more this would happen. Maintenance is not free and the public sector would still have to pay the bill for it.
- Rygian 5y ago
  Why would that be unlikely? If Microsoft's business model was to get paid to develop Office, then of course they would. (Obviously, Microsoft's actual business model is to capture and lock in, that's what makes your example look odd.)
- tapland 5y ago
  The money is in the maintenance agreements.
- Beltalowda 5y ago
  I mostly want the code to public as a matter of transparency. I'd be fine if it was released under a fairly restrictive license which would prevent this kind of re-use.
- prepend 5y ago
  They would develop Office because they were paid to develop office. Also, government custom developed software is really wonky and the odds that the IP is sold is very low. The greater odds are that maintenance and follow on contracts will only be possible for the company that first wrote the software.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

rapind 5y ago

This is already very common in the private sector. Most businesses that require custom software will insist (via contract terms) that they “own” the software. There’s also licensed deals and subscription services etc. sure, but there’s a ton of custom proprietary software that consultants build (which often contain proprietary business logic). Custom always costs more of course, but this isn’t a new model by any stretch of the imagination.