You can make a living by 'consultancy' one of the forms of which is 'code
shop for hire' making tailored systems. The customer pays for any additional
hours of coding on the product plus the install and data migration. Because
they are then free to choose whoever they like to maintain the code this is a
good deal for small companies who need customised software before they are
big enough to have their own bespoke coders in house.
The typical proprietary deal for such would be that the customer pays for a
license for the o/s and subsystems programmed against, pays a license for the
notional product, pays for the extra coding of modifications, then pays an
annual 'maintenance fee' on that and the original code which just gives them
the right to pay for repairs to be made by one exclusive provider. Then they
still have to pay for the install and data migration.
As you can see Free Software has a big cost and contract advantage over that.
Remember 70-80% of coding is on in house solutions. Many companies need to
pay others who have the skills and get royally ripped off in the process.
