Interesting dilemmas all. I had the same conversation at a software
company I used to work for. Sparing you the gritty details, these were
our conclusions:

1. It is fair to charge for some of that time, but not all. The
benchmark we used for estimating how much to charge was (of course
after the fact) "How long would it take me to reproduce it again from
scratch?" Considering the "new" knowledge that usually came to 30% to
50% of the actual time.

2. Source code should be governed by the contract before the project
begins. Our company was generally contracted as "consultants". With
that came an hourly rate and any source we produced was automatically
the customers. A few projects were done with fixed prices, with those
the source code is not the customers (unless it's in the contract).

3. This one's a little different, and I might pose it slightly
differently: If the customer owns the source code, do you have the
right to do anything with it that's not for that customer? (even
including things like reusing low-level routines for the next project)

More to your point I think posting the customers code is bad form, but
being active in the list and helping the next person solve their
problems is good.

-Denny

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Crawley" <proyectosenpic@YAHOO.COM.AR>
To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 7:42 AM
Subject: [OT:]The Code,The Client and The PicList


> 1. - Should I charge to this particular Client the "learning hours"?
> 2. - Should I release the code to the customer who asks for it?
> 3. - Should I share with Piclist if I sale the final project?
>
> 1. - With "learning hours" I mean the subjects where I don't have
any clue
> to figure out "HOW TO DO THIS". Resulting in a knowledge that I can
use with
> profit in the future, with minimal effort. Why I have to charge
those hours
> to this particular client?
>
> 2. - I understand that if you aren't neither "visible" nor
"important"
> company
> and if you are a mere "mortal" person, the code dies when you die,
and the
> customer won't have support any more. So the request is logical, and
she or
> he deserves the code. BUT, with the code you are delivering the
manner you
> resolve issues, you are teaching HOW TO DO things, how can you value
that?
>
> 3. - This is the starting point for another ethic dilemma that I
have about
> the
> Piclist, say the wonderful "free" help I received. How can I
balance? Should
> I share my profits with the Piclist if I have success with any
project? How
> can I measure in dollars which part of the code I recognize form the
> Piclist?
>
> If you don't have this kind of dilemma, disregard this mail. (You
have a
> "callus" in the synderesis, and probably you don't deserves to be
here, or
> anywhere!)
>
> It's a pity that I can't put this mail in PIC channel.
>
> Good weekend to all! :)
> Dennis Crawley
> Argentina
>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
> ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.
>

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.