http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/speeches/2003/20030404/default.htm
For example, though the set up cost of creating an on-line encyclopedia may be enormous, the cost of reproduction and distribution may be near zero if the means of distribution is the Internet. The emergence of an electronic platform for the transmission of ideas at negligible marginal cost may therefore be an important factor explaining the recent increased conceptualization of the GDP. The demand for conceptual products is clearly impeded to a much smaller degree by rising marginal cost than is the demand for physical products.
The cost isn't *that* enormous, of course, when a free license empowers volunteers.