krogsgard

You're correct. There's no issue to sell under a GPL license. The commercial section of WordPress.org are all GPL providers, but many of the largest commercial theme providers are listed there.

ThemeForest actually uses a split license, wherein the templates within the theme are GPL, but the CSS, images, or non-WordPress dependent things in the theme are "protected" under a different license.

GPL has essentially turned into a non-issue for commercial WordPress entities that have gone that route. This doesn't mean they don't get copied and stolen, because it happens all the time - just like non GPL products. But the business models are well beyond selling a template and forgetting about it. Support, updates, reputation, code quality, and other factors are a driving force as to why someone would buy a theme from the actual provider rather than a "legally" ripped version for a fraction of the price.

I imagine the comparison is supposed to be based on adjusted for inflation wages, 1965 to 2007.

This article has similar numbers: http://www.kyklosproductions.com/articles/wages.html

Also includes this quote. "As one source has put it, "in 2000 a CEO earned more in one workday (there are 260 in a year) than what the average worker earned in 52 weeks. In 1965, by contrast, it took a CEO two weeks to earn a worker's annual pay"."

My apologies on the poor phrasing. Yes, "couldn't" is what I should have said. But, I think you get the point.

For restaurants that want more than a one page site, some customization opportunity, easy to generate html menus, etc. a new company called Theme Force is offering a hosted service that uses WordPress as a backend. I've done a demo of it and written about the company, and it's a solid solution: http://theme-force.com

The about.me style sounds like a good idea as well, for those that want a super low budget, no frills site. But a menu would be nice, even on something like that.

I just like that Narayen started his career at Apple. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantanu_Narayen#Career

I think the part where you describe how money got in the way of noticing a need for change very interesting.

I guess it's a testament to the fact that if we're broke while trying to get started with something, we're more likely to scrap away on as little as possible until we find something that works.

I don't think having no money to work with is any better than having comfortable amounts though. Having no money can stifle ideas or make us afraid to commit resources (ourselves particularly).

Perhaps the proper balance for a low-overhead startup is somewhere around the "What do I need to get by?" level... Probably similar to your experience starting Woo.

I rarely see so much potential in something it appears worth dumping a ton of money into w/ little visible revenue opportunity.

Of course, a lot of companies that are now hugely successful are just those types. But how many have failed to generate any revenue for every one that has succeeded?