Every software developer faces a choice when deciding how to release a new software product. That choice is whether the program will be free or non-free. Unfortunately, many otherwise knowledgeable programmers aren’t sure just what this choice means, and may complain that programmers with families really don’t have a choice at all—if they want to earn a living, they must charge for their work. However, free software is not about giving software away without cost. Rather, free software is simply an ethical choice that guarantees the freedom of users—and, perhaps more importantly, the freedom of the developer. This last point is often lost, even in discussions among free software developers about the benefits of publicly licensed software.

A developer who chooses a free software license is not necessarily acting under purely selfless motives—there are concrete economical reasons for doing so

Nevertheless, a developer who chooses a free software license is not necessarily acting under purely selfless motives—there are concrete economical reasons for doing so. I will first discuss the immediate benefits of releasing free software to developers, then discuss broader advantages to the industry and society.

The private benefits of public licensing

I recently had the opportunity to interview two game developers: Daniel Horn and Mike Boeh. Horn chose to release his popular Privateer remake, VegaStrike, under the General Public License, whereas Boeh has achieved the “holy grail” of independent game development—making enough money to adequately support his family—by releasing a series of high-quality proprietary action games. Both developers are highly skilled and successful at marketing their work, and though their programs offer the player substantially different experiences, their games are highly polished and professional—and a good deal more fun to play than many big-budget “A-List” titles.

VegaStrike is one of the most sophisticated GNU games available

Comparing the development strategies of these programmers is quite revealing. Horn had a stunning revelation when he learned about GNU/Linux and the unique way it had been built. Horn, who had intended VegaStrike to be a standard proprietary product, decided then to embrace the free software model. “I realized that this was how it had to be. This is what would differentiate me from my competition,” says Horn. This decision proved to be the right one. Soon after he announced his game, another programmer who had been working on another Privateer remake heard of it and promptly decided to abandon his own project and dedicate his time and energy to VegaStrike. Graphic artists, musicians, and writers soon followed, and now VegaStrike’s development is largely the responsibility of contributors volunteering their work. This is possible because users have access to VegaStrike’s source code, or the “human-readable” scripts that tell computers what to do. If Horn had only released the binary code, or the “machine-readable” scripts, the users would have been unable to reliably discern how the program worked or contribute to it. Thus, by sharing his source code, Horn has received help from hundreds of users who gladly shared their resources and talents with him.

Mike Boeh’s approach to software development differs sharply from Horn’s. Most significantly, Boeh’s games are released only in binary form. Furthermore, though Boeh offers “playable demos” of his titles, users must purchase the “full versions” and are not allowed to share them. While Boeh prides himself on the originality and versatility of his games, he admitted to me that he does share an engine, or the “core code” of his games, with another proprietary developer. However, Boeh does not choose to share this engine or his code with other developers. Instead, Boeh contracts out for artistic and music talent and either pays them up front or promises them a share of his royalties.

According to Boeh, programming is hard, tedious work that very few people would choose to do for free. “The barrier of getting a game done is the size of the task. You have to write such a lot of code. If you have a wife and a child, it’s hard to stay focused,” says Boeh. While it’s relatively easy to get a simple prototype up and running in a few weeks, months of tough and often frustrating work follow. The game must be polished; bugs must be found and eliminated; sloppy routines must be detected and smoothed out. These tasks are difficult and laborious—the sort of boring and repetitive tasks that most sensible people expect to be paid for performing. Boeh believes the value he adds to his software is his meticulous coding practices and polishing, and a few moments spent browsing the software library at Retro64 is enough to demonstrate his superior craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Boeh feels he has good reasons for releasing his games under a proprietary, non-free license. Boeh’s biggest fear is that unscrupulous competitors would use his code to quickly produce competing “knock-offs,” or games that differ only superficially (if at all!) from his. Someone cloned his game Z-Ball and tried to fool consumers into thinking it was Boeh’s game. A few developers even tried to copy Boeh’s website, going so far as to clone his slogan “Where the fun is never old.” Since Boeh is striving to earn a living doing what he loves—programming great games—he feels he has a good reason for keeping his code secret and doing his best to protect himself from competitors.

Boeh and Horn have made trade-offs. Horn has traded secrecy and a certain level of security in the hopes that he will be able to take advantage of the public’s goodwill. Hundreds of developers have chipped in to help Horn find bugs and improve and extend his code. Boeh, on the other hand, has sacrificed this help for the sake of keeping his code secret and thus hopefully reducing the threat of competition. Which trade-off is more advantageous?

Retro64’s Cosmobots—proprietary shareware