Service and/or Commodity

Question

Do we create services when we write programs, or are they commodities?

Are we like window-washers in that our programs(actions) provide some services to the users? OR: are we like carpenters in that our programs(products) are sold and used by their new owners?

Or should this be seen in different aspects: The act of programming being a service, and the resulting program is a product?

The above has a direct impact on the following question: Is it theft or fraud when you copy software that you have no rights to? Theft is the physical removal of an object of value from the possession of another; fraud is representation of a falsehood in such a way that leads to the economic loss of the victim (the representation here being your assumption of right-to-copy).

It also impacts on questions of causal liability: If the program you wrote to crack passwords are used by others to rob a bank: are you an accomplice? If your program is a service then it could be argued that you are; if a commodity then you 'should' be in the clear.

Or: should each program be treated as a unique instance, based purely on the intentions of that program's originator, as to wether it should be treated as a service or commodity? Or should the user's intentions be used?

How does this reflect on the open-source world where many programs are available that seemingly infringe on commercial rights, e.g.: copy-protection and DRM circumventions?

(This impacts us all every time that we write code.)

Answer 1

It's both actually.

Sometime you sell a product which just works. It's a commodity. A notepad program for example is a commodity, you don't go into any relationship with its author. Most small tools fall into this category.

Sometimes you develop a custom application tailored for your specific user, or you integrate an existing product with their legacy applications and adjust it to work for their specific situation. It's definitely a service and you are usually in a long-term relationship with the customer. Most 'big'/expensive programs fall into this category. You could buy MS SharePoint Server license as a commodity but in most scenarios most likely you will also buy a service of someone to make it work for you.