@Stu Reeves

I've heard that argument so many times. Very little of software developers' pay comes from the sale value of the software they write. I'm paid to develop software that has zero sale value because my employer wants to use it. If it was open source and distributed freely it wouldn't impact its use value and wouldn't hurt my salary.

Most software developers employed in the UK and worldwide are paid based on the use value of the software, not its sale value. Most of us are working on systems that are not really worth distributing, because they are quite exactly matched to the requirements of a particular business.

Well, anyway, I'm not going to write the whole argument out again. Eric S. Raymond said it best anyway. I recommend reading some of his essays.