Adam Back writes:

People copy commercial software all the time. I suspect only some small fraction of personal use software is ever paid for. Companies are less likely to do this

Companies do it because the boss can instruct the underlings to do multi installs and then deny he did so. Doesn't work on pig-headed "Can I have that in writing" types (like me).

One idea which I did like was the open bidding for a product to be developed, people interested in the feature or product pay how much it is worth to them up front, developers bid to take the job on. After it's done the software is freeware. Supporting ideas discussed before on this topic are that first to complete gets paid, or lowest bidder presents completion bond, and that there are independent aribitrators checking quality.

There was someone who posted to the list that he was going to set this up. He even purchased the domain name if I recall. What happened, did anything come of it?

Bounty Software Group (BOUNTY3-DOM) 818 West Sunnyside, Apt 3b. Chicago, IL 60640 US Domain Name: BOUNTY.ORG Administrative Contact: Petro, Christopher (CP588) petro@SUBA.COM 312.784.0099 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Strasheim, Alex R. (AS55) alex@SUBA.COM (312) 929-8008 Billing Contact: Petro, Christopher (CP588) petro@SUBA.COM 312.784.0099 Record last updated on 23-Nov-96. Record created on 23-Nov-96. Database last updated on 4-Nov-97 05:29:24 EDT. Domain servers in listed order: SUBA01.SUBA.COM 198.87.202.2 BIRD.SUBA.COM 198.87.202.33