I understand all your points..<div><br></div><div>Now.. Lets do a survey of Delphi developers.. How many people are there writing software in delphi and providing unrestricted full access licenses on an Honor system with the expectation that their clients might pay them later? excluding any trial limits, feature restrictions etc etc, but relying on a paper licence unsigned that states some rules that might get enforced.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I think the reality is that people will take it if it seems fair, and wont take it if it doesn't, but there isn't much point worrying about it. </div><div><br></div><div>its a buyers market and the real loss will be to embacardo if they have made a bad decision. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Whats that saying.. Better a million people pirating my software than pirating the competitions. :) eventually there is a return from someone. </div><div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 1:45 PM, Jolyon Smith <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jsmith@deltics.co.nz">jsmith@deltics.co.nz</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div lang="EN-NZ" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">I find it depressing that people still can’t seem to get away from thinking that people will set out to “cheat” Embarcadero by gaming reasonable license restrictions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Most (“most” not “all”) people only “cheat” when they feel that the rules aren’t fair in the first place.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">And as for profit being harder to track than revenue, just how are Embarcadero going to track/monitor revenue in this area in the first place? What earnings DO they recognise as relevant revenue? Without requiring that only registered companies qualify for purchasing these licenses, how do they expect to compel a set of audited accounts from their Starter licensees ?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">My guess: They won’t be enforcing the license terms in this way at all. They will operate an “honour” system, in which case, making that system fair and reasonable is the best way to ensure compliance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">But the idea is to attract new users, right? Users who do Delphi as a hobby or who have an idea that *<b>might</b>* make a little money (or maybe a lot, tho in that latter case I don’t think Pro license costs will necessarily hold them back).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Comparing to another of my hobbies (photography), if I spend $1000 on printing photos that I sell to my friends/colleagues for $1000, have I “made” $1000 ?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">If Embarcadero were licensing me my camera they would say “yes”, even tho my hobby is a break-even activity for me (allowing only for directly measureable costs, and not other costs that are involved). And once I tip over that $1000 <u>revenue</u>, my license costs go up immensely, and if I don’t pay up, not only do I not get access to the bigger/better/brighter features (that I don’t actually need, since by definition I didn’t use them to get that far in the first place) but I also lose the right to use the tools I already paid for!!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">I think I’d choose a different camera, wouldn’t you ?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">In the grand scheme of things I don’t see the idea of a revenue limit a problem per se, but $1000 really isn’t very much and by no means establishes an “ability to pay” for Professional licenses on an on-going basis. What if I “earn” $1000 in the first 6 months from a flood of donations from interested users etc. I am compelled to shell out $800 to remain within the terms of my license. But then the donations dry up after that, reducing to perhaps $500-$800 over the next 12 months?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">I don’t think this is an entirely fantastical situation to imagine.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Don’t get me wrong, I think Delphi Starter is better than what we had before (i.e. nothing) but this particular aspect of the license is worrying (in terms of what it suggests in the thinking of those behind the initiative).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt"> <a href="mailto:delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz" target="_blank">delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz" target="_blank">delphi-bounces@delphi.org.nz</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Kyley Harris<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, 1 February 2011 13:04</span></p><div class="im"><br><b>To:</b> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [DUG] Delphi Starter Edition</div><p></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would think Students too.. </p><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">And I guess if you actually start making a $1000 they figure its enough to pay for the software and then keep making money :D</p>
</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><div class="im"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"> </p><div><p class="MsoNormal">On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Jeremy North <<a href="mailto:jeremy.north@gmail.com" target="_blank">jeremy.north@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</p>
<div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">> The $1000 revenue limit is also bizarrely low imho - it's high enough to<br>> worm it's way around any "non-commercial use" restriction, but not high<br>
> enough to realistically be anything other than a "non-commercial use only"<br>> restriction in all but name.</p></div><p class="MsoNormal">It is targeted at open source or hobbyists developers. I don't see any<br>
issues with the limit.<br><br>Is the $1000 per year or a running total?</p><div><div><p class="MsoNormal">_______________________________________________<br>NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list<br>Post: <a href="mailto:delphi@delphi.org.nz" target="_blank">delphi@delphi.org.nz</a><br>
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