Open source, closed source, and the value of code

[RM]

Whichever way one cuts things, the most widely used programming 
languages such as PASCAL and C++
are as FREE as the air. As long as a language remains Unfree it is 
unlikely to be adopted widely.
While Runtime Revolution / Livecode have, until comparatively recently, 
only had a closed source version of their programming environment, they 
have almost always had a "cheap way in" in the form of a 
lines-of-code-limited version, or a stacks-only-version; and had they 
not they wouldn't have got as far as they did before they released their 
open source version.

At the moment I cannot entirely understand what the 'problem' is. There 
is a FREE version of Livecode
which to all intents and purposes is a very large subset of an Unfree 
version.  The FREE version is so
powerful that any "hobbyist" (a very, very fuzzy category if ever there 
was: a 'hobbyist' is a bit like the boy who buys a small box of Lego 
bits . . .) should be fully satisfied.

Richmond.