Z:gnu-www-ja-free-world-notes--9b7c9e-My proposal is that free softw/en

My proposal is that free software will start out aiming to produce the most basic and most broadly used software: it will in effect harvest the &ldquo;cash cows&rdquo; of the commercial software industry, rather than attempt to innovate at the fringes of development. (Of course, innovators are more than welcome to contribute.) Beyond free software there will still be shareware and commercial products, which will to some extent compete with free software and to a larger extent open up new niches where free software is not yet available. The free software industry will provide a damper on the sort of prices that can be charged. It will also help lower the costs of all software development, and may eventually provide a salvage market for discontinued commercial software. Shareware may be a fruitful ground for speculative software development, with the goal being to develop and popularize a new product that can be sold off to the free market.