I have some small web applications and software projects I'm working on -- I want to publically release them for free, but I am interested in receiving some money from them.
How do people who release software or web applications (e.g. Wordpress, Firefox, Notepad++, PHPBB, etc.) make money (if they do at all, of course).
A lot of us don't. Either we write something we need, then decide to offer it to the public, or someone asks for a program, the idea is interesting, so we develop it and release it. (Some of the friends I've made through freeware I've written are worth more than money.)
You could make the program stop running (or stop saving) after 30 or 60 days or you could leave out functions free web make softwarein the free version.
I can't say much for the other ones you mentioned, but Mozilla Firefox actually makes a huge amount of money via the built-in Google search box. Google pays Mozilla an amount for each user that performs a Google search from the Firefox browser (similar to the way they pay people to stick a Google search form on their websites). Then Mozilla made Google the default search option in that little search input widget, so nearly everyone who has Firefox installed ends up using it. Simple, but very very effective.
Every single time you use that built-in search box in teh Firefox browser, rather than going to the google site and typing your search in there, you're earning mfree web make softwareoney for Mozilla. ;)
Firefox, for one, actually arranges to have its developers paid. Something like Knoppix though -- Klaus Knopper makes his living as a computer consultant and if you had the money wouldn't YOU want a genius like that coming into your office? FOSS IS one of the best advertisements out there.
The most common way is to release a limited funcionality version and a full paid version. The other way is to get advertisers to promote through your software.
They make money a number of ways:
1) Support contracts
2) Certifications (ala RedHat)
3) "Enterprise" editions that are not free
4) Books
5) Donations
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