That was the first part of my comment, wasn't it? I used "scarcity" instead of "rivalrousness" because it's the more familiar term.

Undisciplined

It's also the conclusion you'd reach by realizing that there are people who produce this stuff recreationally or for ideological reasons and want others to have free access.

That's a part of it, but the other part of it is that software itself 

 information. It's just a digital pattern, which can be copied. So there is no "rivalrousness" as the theorists of this type of thing, say. That's the main reason why the natural price of software is "kinda-sorta" zero.

What else is trending towards becoming "free"?

birdeye21

> It's also the conclusion you'd reach by realizing that there are people who produce this stuff recreationally or for ideological reasons and want others to have free access.

That's a part of it, but the other part of it is that software itself *is* information. It's just a digital pattern, which can be copied. So there is no "rivalrousness" as the theorists of this type of thing, say. That's the main reason why the natural price of software is "kinda-sorta" zero.