Timothy Appnel reports on the release of Six Apart's Movable Type (MT) 3.0 Developer Edition and the MT community's reaction to changes in terms and licensing cost.  He closes with this comment:

This outcry raises a bigger more important point which is the reason for my post. As a developer and one who makes a living writing code, this reaction to Six Apart's new licensing is really disheartening and on a certain level frustrating to see. I am a firm believer and backer of open source. I've personally released quite a bit of open source code myself and will continue to do so. However this apparent expectation of the vocal part of community that it is their right to have all great works of software at no cost is bothersome. If users don't have the funds or won't pay on principle for my time, effort or talent – how do I eat?

While I was thinking about the question, I couldn't help but notice how similar the situation is with carnal relations.  Six Apart and other open source companies have opened their legs in return for love.  And now they risk losing the love if they start playing hard to get.  No easy solutions there.

Maybe Doctor Ruth can help.

Update:

Dave's long rant on the subject reminded me of the 60's free sex meme.  I think that's what we have here except this destructive meme is not likely to go away any time soon.  What a trip.

Update 2:

Perspective from the other side, the shocked lover who now feels betrayed, is also interesting and understandable.  This comment from teledyn posted to James Robertson's blog is a good example:

What gets me is the breach of trust, their about-face that leaves me stranded with no warning. When you invest your time creating content for a publishing system, you don't expect to have your priviledges to proceed with that software held for ransom.

In my faith in their company, I have recommended and deployed their free software over about a dozen sites…

[…]

It's not the money per-se, it's that about face that has frightened me away; if they'd turn against their core community for a buck now when the company is in the pink, they'll do it again later when the chips are down.

Dependence on SixApart is now a risk and I'm also concerned that, having squandered all the community good-will they'd only valued at $0.25, the future doesn't look so rosy for TypePad. Two days ago a colleague asked me if he should host his company site on TypePad or host it in-house, and I recommended TypePad, "They'll be around for long long time" I assured him.

I sent him a message today, reversing my assessment.