Re: [Fsfe-uk] Renting GPL software

[Alex Hudson]

On Tue, 2008-01-15 at 00:56 +0000, Jon Grant wrote:
> any other ltd company contractors on the list..?

(I work for a Ltd., but I'm not a contractor)

As well as MJ's decent explanation of Co-ops, I'd also point out that
"company" or even "Ltd" forms are quite wide, not counting the newer
specialist forms like CICs (which Richard can probably talk more about
than me).

It's quite possible to have companies which do not benefit shareholders,
and further you can do some fancy things with asset locks and stuff too
(for example, Ltds. without 'Limited'/'Ltd' in their name have all sorts
of special rules about how they should operate). Indeed, I think some
Co-ops are set up as Ltd. companies.

I'm not trying to compare companies to co-ops, but point out that there
are many forms of companies and it's not always straightforward in terms
of how they operate and who benefits from them.

Going back to the subject of co-ops, I would like to see more of them in
the free software world. While I wouldn't say they're the "best" or
"most appropriate" form for people offering free software
goods/services, I do think there is an affinity there and there are few
examples of people having tried it - particularly, where there is no
need/availability of investment, there don't seem to be any good reasons
why you shouldn't try it.

Cheers,

Alex.