IMHO
To argue this point clearly, I will define some of QSSL’s key objectives
(naturally these are assumptions);
Objective 1: To make money
Objective 2: To extend the user base & developer base of QNX products
Put a price on RTP and sell it to consumers and business users for $50 - $80
a copy. Market it effectively through companies whose primary purpose is to
market things, and who already have the eyeballs, hearts and minds of the
consumers. Get it out to as many people as possible, but make money from it
at the same time.
Give it away free to anyone who wants to register as a software developer -
simple, easy, no hassle, no strict requirements to prove you are a
developer.
The above structure makes it available free to anyone technically minded
(those that develop software and influence the rest of the world), whilst
still valuing the software by putting a price on it for consumers and
business.
Developers are attracted to a large user base. If the RTP is sold to
consumers for money, then QSSL can afford to invest in activities which
promote the software and build a large user base. For example - and getting
back to the Yahoo alliance idea - , if QSSL cut a deal with Yahoo to co
promote and co brand RTP so that it was on every Yahoo page served, sold for
$50 a copy with half going to QSSL and half going to Yahoo, it seems likely
that downloads would be at least 50,000 per day, but with people paying for
the software. That pays for developers at QSSL and porting and advertising
and support - WITHOUT compromising the size of the user base. If anything,
such a strategy would spread the QNX name further and wider than the current
strategy because Yahoo is inherently newsworthy, and isn’t that one of the
objectives - to get the QNX name out there?
The suggestion that QNX RTP has to be free to compete with Linux and FreeBSD
is wrong. That implies an underlying assumption that QNX RTP is equivalent
to, or the same as the Linux distros and free Unixes - it is not. QNX can
and should be sold to consumers for money because it does something that
people want and the market has been asking for, and something that Linux and
Unix does not do. QNX RTP is a great machine for the desktop. I’ve tried
it and I use it and it’s true. It’s not perfect, but it’s as close as we
have seen so far. The release of the StarOffice source will only enhance
this. QNX should not be perceived as another me too free xnix operating
system, it should be perceived as a head to head competitor with Microsoft
Windows - the desktop OS with a solid foot in the Linux/Unix camp. This
market already accepts the idea of paying for operating systems and OS
upgrades.
QNX RTP has to run a different race to that being run from Linux and Unix,
or it will be forced to compete on the terms of that race, which is that
all software must be free.
Not having money means not having leverage to make the big promotional
deals.
The current strategy has attracted hardly a squeak of attention from the
Internet, despite that fact that the software is free. There has been
nothing on ZDNet, yahoo, CMPnet, byte or Cnet. I think there has been a
mention on only slashdot and dr dobbs and a few minor players.
In summary, if the point is to get a large user base, developers and money,
then RTP should be sold to consumers, should be free to developers and
should be marketed by an Internet company with huge daily hits, such as
Yahoo or Excite. It must compete with Windows directly because there is
money in that market. it must not compete with Linux because there is no
money in Linux - and because it isn’t the same as Linux. Money equates to
developers, support, upgrades etc which leads to consumer confidence in the
future of the product.
The alternative is a free os which is simply an advertisement and which is
entirely funded out of QSSL’s real time clients. Doesn’t sound like much of
a future to me.
Just my $2

Andrew