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Originally Posted by netseeker
I guess now you are missing the point - at least a little bit. These developers earn a salary because their companies sell services and complimentary goods around the free products. Wouldn't this be possible for eBooks too?
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I doubt it, unless you're keen for all of the heroes in your books to drink Coca
Cola, drive a Toyota Camry and to watch Fox Networks - and the books themselves to have adverts just when you get to the good bits.
I'm exaggerating, but this is the crux of the whole discussion. Anderson and many others believe that this secondary market is capable of supporting creative works for the indirect benefit they would receive. I don't believe there's any evidence that there would be nearly enough support for creative works on a useful scale.
The software examples are also quite different, because by sponsoring the various projects, large corporations are variously trying to tie developers, companies and end users into their systems, or to undermine their competitors. That's not really something you can do with a book.