A true story; selling open source. Here is the scene: Several of us programmers at a small custom software business have been advocating that we open source our code. We advocate it gently and consistently, and have done so for years. The owner of the company is finally friendly to the idea, but would never seriously entertain the notion because he wants profit and no matter how many times it is described to him, cannot fathom how money can be made with something that you're giving away for free.
Recently, I found a small personal project that incrementally blossomed into quite a large project (for a single programmer). Early on, since I was defining the terms of the project, I requested from the customer that it be made open source. He said “sure,” since it made no difference to him.
Last week, I approached the owner at my day job, and told him I was working on another project evenings and weekends. His initial response was not positive, and he said he would think about it. During the weekend, while I was working on the project, he stopped by the office. As he was leaving, the following conversation took place: . . . [Advogato]