This. I always make sure both sides share in the full rights to the work. Regardless of whether I am the one doing the programming or the one paying for it. Pu

This. I always make sure both sides share in the full rights to the work. Regardless of whether I am the one doing the programming or the one paying for it. Public sector usually makes up the rules for itself and then upholds them in the software. Very little public sector software could be resold in the private sector without significant investment into making it more general, usually to the detriment of the product. The "multiple clients => lower price" thus holds no water, because it's always just different branches of government and the usual way it ends up is that after 10 years or so the product is still used in one place only and the original programmers long left the company. And public still pays for a yearly license.