Who buys libraries and components?

“Aha!”, I thought when I read from Paul Tyma that building a business to sell development tools might not be the best idea.

Paul suggested that developers are accustomed to the fact that most development tools are available for free, which means it can be difficult to sell to developers. In some areas, such as Java development, it is allegedly generally not accepted to buy anything. On the other hand, Windows / .NET developers are more likely to pay.


It coincided with my feelings. If you look at what is asked on stackoverflow.com, then you get the feeling that everyone wants to get everything for free or for minimal money. Maybe this line of thought is logical if a person takes a free Ubuntu, puts a free IDE for free PHP and starts making money.
')
Or is it just that Paul and I have the wrong feelings? I propose to vote and find out whether someone is buying libraries and components or not.

Many thanks to all.