News and Reviews > Official Announcements

Change to Official License Key Policy

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Rover:
As mouser mentioned, some people would rather use poor quality FREE software vs. anything that might hint of getting paid.

The reason is strictly philosophical.  They believe that software should be free, 100%, always, forever as in Free Beer and Freedom of speech.  Nothing you do short of giving it away all the time forever will make them happy.  It's not about the work, quality, effectiveness, etc. it's about a philosophy.

If you want that, publish your work under the GPL and live happy.  If you want something else (dare I say, a little more reasonable?) then they will not use, promote or speak nicely about your software or your mother.  So what? 

You can't please everyone, so please who you want.  It's your software, work etc. do whatever you want.

momonan:
No, longrun, you are not the only one who thinks things are fine as they were.  I don't think the basic concept of the site should be discarded just because some people don't understand it.  If donations keep the site, and the work, going, then that's the structure that should be kept.  We can't succumb to the definitions others create.

There's every reason  jump at the chance to explain the site on other forums, when someone raises the issue, but that doesn't mean you have to capitulate.

nudone:
sorry, to everyone if i sounded down on the licenses. i'm glad everyone feels like taking a stronger standpoint about the site. personally, i don't have a problem about any kind of license system. i'd jump through any kind of hoop to be able to use 'Find and Run Robot', time and time again.

please consider this a momentary negative relapse on my part. the shame, the shame.

mouser:
hahaha -
being against license keys is not being against this site.  no one here has to agree in lock step with everything we do.

the license keys are an inconvenience.  no doubt about it.  and it makes sense that those good souls who would donate to the site regardless would tend to think that they are overkill.

the real question, and its an empirical question, is to what extent would donations and participation on the forum drop off if we stopped using license keys.

my speculation is that it would drop off a bit, but how much i do not know.

i actually think that the people who are complaining about the license keys and say they would donate only if we didn't have such a thing are probably fooling themselves.

but that's not to say that there aren't benefits that would come from removing the license keys, worth considering.

it seems to me that we should answer this question, both for ourselves, and as a way of answering a question that other donationware authors would probably like to have answered.

so i suggest that sometimes in the next few months (maybe timed to our 1 year aniversary in march or april), we conduct a survey and spend a month  having either no license keys needed anymore, or else letting people sign up and get an immediate non-expiring permanent license key.  it seems to me we don't have that much to lose other than a months worth of user donations, and it would be a fair price to pay to get a better understanding of how the license key system helps or hurts.

rjbull:
They believe that software should be free, 100%, always, forever as in Free Beer and Freedom of speech.
-cembree (December 21, 2005, 07:35 PM)
--- End quote ---

Strikes me the people in alt.comp.freeware only believe in free beer.  In all their whining, I never noticed anything about free speech, i.e. source code availability.

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