A couple of real-world examples to go with your (good) ideas: * Richard Stallman gives away the software, but sells the support. This technique has the perverse incentive for the author to make the software require support. * The Grateful Dead permitted taping at their concerts and did not object to the non-commercial exchange of the tapes. It is hard to tell whether they made most of their money from performances or from sales of recordings. In general musicians can make money from live performance. (Song writers have a different problem, more like that of poets.) BTW - Marc Steigler tells me he has had a story accepted at Analog (but not yet published) called something like, "The future of (eat more cheetos) Copyright." Cheers - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Internal surveillance | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | helped make the USSR the | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | nation it is today. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA