Ownership of software is, as said before, not what you actually want.
The reason isn't necessarily that people won't do a good job. The reason you don't want it is because it is (should be) a lot more expensive to 'own' the copyright to the code.
A programmer who, for example, uses Ruby on Rails, will most likely not write just one application, but multiple applications in Rails, using a lot of the same code in most of them. Think things like user management, etc.
If you, as a customer, 'own' the software, he suddenly can't use things like `<%= render 'user_bar' %> or something anymore, he will have to rewrite it for every client. This is nonsense, because you don't WANT to own this bar. On top of this, you shouldn't want this because you want a programmer who can deliver high-quality code quickly. So him reusing his best code between clients is what you want him to do, not reinventing the wheel every time.
What you ACTUALLY want is to own the application, the problem that it solves, not the code. The success of an application is not (just) the source code, it is the problem scope, the design, the concepts behind it, the way it performs, the usability, etc.
What I'd want as a client is for my programmer to not resell the same app to someone else in the same industry/competing industries. What do I care if some programmer uses the same trial account code in 20 different apps? As long as he doesn't sell others the same product I am ok with it.
On top of this I want to be able to use the code I get however I want within my own scope. I should not have the right, without paying extra, to sell the code to people outside of my industry. I do want to have the right to sell the whole company however, or the part of my company that 'has' the code.
The reason isn't necessarily that people won't do a good job. The reason you don't want it is because it is (should be) a lot more expensive to 'own' the copyright to the code.
A programmer who, for example, uses Ruby on Rails, will most likely not write just one application, but multiple applications in Rails, using a lot of the same code in most of them. Think things like user management, etc.
If you, as a customer, 'own' the software, he suddenly can't use things like `<%= render 'user_bar' %> or something anymore, he will have to rewrite it for every client. This is nonsense, because you don't WANT to own this bar. On top of this, you shouldn't want this because you want a programmer who can deliver high-quality code quickly. So him reusing his best code between clients is what you want him to do, not reinventing the wheel every time.
What you ACTUALLY want is to own the application, the problem that it solves, not the code. The success of an application is not (just) the source code, it is the problem scope, the design, the concepts behind it, the way it performs, the usability, etc.
What I'd want as a client is for my programmer to not resell the same app to someone else in the same industry/competing industries. What do I care if some programmer uses the same trial account code in 20 different apps? As long as he doesn't sell others the same product I am ok with it.
On top of this I want to be able to use the code I get however I want within my own scope. I should not have the right, without paying extra, to sell the code to people outside of my industry. I do want to have the right to sell the whole company however, or the part of my company that 'has' the code.