>> One odd thing about the commercialization of academic software has been
> that the profits, however much they are, never seem to go back in such a
> way as to result in a more professionally maintained academic product.
> Can anybody here who has had their software "commercialized" report that
> they received increased funding for development or maintenance of the
> software as a result? If not, WHY ARE YOU COMMERCIALIZING IT?
I take exception to your use of the word "never".
Our company has established a relationship with our academic partner whereby
we completely re-wrote their academic system and not only maintain it on
their
behalf, but also pay a sizeable royalty every time we sell the system to a
commercial
user. Academics, on the other hand, can use the system totally free of
charge -- they
don't get a 'professionally maintained academic product' but rather the full
commercial
product (and support) free of charge.
I think our academic collaborators would report definitively that they
receive increased funding
AND development and maintenance of their codes as a result of
commercialization.
Not to mention lots of custom programming that comes from having such a
tight relationship with
a group of professional developers.
Different scenarios *do* exist.
Tania Broveak Hide
_______________/\/Electric Genetics\/\___________________
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Cape Town 8000 +27 (21) 959-2512 fax
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