All software to be free within a decade?

Apache Software Foundation chairman Greg Stein says the days are numbered for commercial software. He believes more and more software will be available for free.

"As the open-source stack grows and grows and takes over more areas, there's less money available in packaged products," Stein said.

"All of your software will be free. It means that, over time, you aren't going to be paying for software anymore but will instead pay for assistance with it", Stein said.

He estimated that in five to ten years, most software used today will be free.

"The notion of packaged products is really going to go away," Stein said.

Read on over at Mac World.