[libreplanet-discuss] Gratis software being released as proprietary

[Pen-Yuan Hsing]

Dear Libreplanet,

I believe I am faced with an opportunity to spread the news about Free
Software this coming weekend, and would love to get your suggestions
on how best to proceed.

In a few days, I will be attending an international wildlife
conservation meeting, and a group of conservation scientists are
scheduled to present a new piece of scientific image management and
analyses software specific to certain cases of wildlife surveys and
management. To achieve maximum "benefit" to wildlife conservation,
they have committed to continued support and updates for the software,
and will release it gratis/free of charge. The problem is that the
software will be proprietary!

I have yet to meet these scientists in person (but will this weekend),
but some common "reasons" I've heard for not releasing gratis software
as Free (as in Freedom) is that they (1) "want to make sure all users
get our most up to date and definitive version"; (2) "want to make
sure the software is well maintained/taken care of"; (3) "afraid of
their hard work being 'stolen' or misappropriated"; and (4) "sounds
like too much extra work when our resources are already streched so
thin".

For (4) above, this is especially true for non-profit organisations
since their resources truly are very limited, and they are afraid of
more burden (I know Free Software is actually liberating, I'm just
saying that's what some people are afraid of). For (3), obviously a
Free Software license makes sure that the original developer is fully
attributed. Even then, I wonder what would be some good responses to
(1) through (4)? Also, I don't think "Freedom is paramount, nothing
else matters" is a sufficient catch all response.

Another possible problem is that these scientists might have actually
hired an outside developer to write this software, and maybe in the
hiring contract the developer made the software proprietary? Is this
something that might have happened? If so, would these conservation
scientists be able to change this?

The above (1) to (4) are some responses from them that I can
anticipate, but what are some other common "concerns" about switching
to Free Software that I can prepare for? Speaking of which, I wonder
if it'll be nice to make a list of such frequently asked questions
about Free Software for makers of both gratis and for-sale software?
Perhaps it can go on the Libreplanet of FSF websites somewhere? (sorry
it it exists, I confess I haven't been to those sites in a while) If
the list doesn't exist, how can we work together to compile it?

Regardless of your personal opinion on wildlife conservation, I think
it is safe to say that these people are very well meaning and
sincerely want to do good in this world. They are not greedy/evil
corporations who want to control our lives! The problem is many people
just don't have the digital literacy (I promise I don't mean this in a
condescending way!) to appreciate the issues around software freedom
and why they should care... :( So what is a nice and respectful way to
bring up this problem, and achieve tangible, positive change? This
will be my first time discussing Free Software with someone actively
involved in software development (though I've talked to many general
"end users" about it before), so I'd really appreciate any suggestions
you have. And sorry about the long message!