Resources for new projects: what to do?

[LP]

Thanks for the clarification on revenue's issue!

So it's for your own learning use, arguably that of you fellow students & teachers, but you can't compile and release anything made with it on PGD or the broader internet.

Legally speaking, even using it for an entry to the PGD Challenge isn't allowed as the judges aren't your teachers, and the entry is subsequently made available to the general public.

I've been thinking on this. If you are using Delphi Academic Edition, perhaps you can justify your participation on PGD Annual or any other contest as part of your learning/academic process. In fact, many institutions may provide grants and support for their students participating on different contests and you are technically representing the institution in addition to yourself, so Academic Edition can still apply.

Even if you publish something on Internet that you've made with Academic edition during your academic/student life, I don't think it will conflict with Academic license.

[WILL]

Well considering that Embarcadero was giving an upgrade discount to anyone that "programmed" with even Notepad I think that they would not jump on your back about using something you bought as a student for a for-fun competition. Seeing great stuff made with Pascal would appeal to them and be enough to convince the educational point, I'm sure

Thanks for the link Lifepower.

[pitfiend]

But, is there a way to identify your binaries? I mean, a binary made with a student edition is signed differently than an enterprise made one? If not, then all that thing about license has no meaning. Just a list of restrictions of what you are allowed to do. Seems to me, it's just an abusive way for Embarcadero to make it's income.

[LP]

I'm not sure if the binaries can be identified or not, and in either case it won't make much difference besides violating the privacy of the end user, since identifiable binaries can be a security risk. I'm not a lawyer but I don't think they will break your leg for publishing something that was made with Academic Edition during your school years.

I mean, it would be different if you continue to publish commercial stuff after graduating, but in this case you can always opt for a Starter if budget is low, or simply get the expensive Professional edition.

Purchasing Professional edition wasn't much of a deal earlier when only Windows 32-bit was supported, but now with 64-bit, Mac OS and iOS, it's a pretty good deal.

Another way of getting around Academic limitations would be developing product with Academic edition and when it's finished, purchase commercial license to start selling, thus getting some time advantage.

[pitfiend]

As I see it, nothing stops you to use an educational version instead of a pro, just your sense of honesty. In the end, it's only an ethical issue. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting nor enforcing something illegal, just pointing at an exploit.

[SilverWarior]

Delphi compiler does write an information about wich version of software was used (trial, acadamic, other). The data is writen in the same block that dfm contents are.
But as far as I know when you use various executable packing programs this information gets packed with the rest and thus can't be read unles packing proces is reversed.

[WILL]

There used to be some sort of stripping tool that removed some "useless" data from Delphi compiled EXEs so that you could create a 4 KB program for something similar to the demoscene competitions. (ie. Assembly)

In fact there used to be a tutorial on PGD that showed you how to create such a 4 KB executable.

[pitfiend]

Delphi compiler does write an information about wich version of software was used (trial, acadamic, other). The data is writen in the same block that dfm contents are.
But as far as I know when you use various executable packing programs this information gets packed with the rest and thus can't be read unles packing proces is reversed.

Are you really really sure? I just checked some binaries made with delphi 7 and delphi 2007, and the only weird resource I found was something called DVCLAL present in all of them with the same content, unless I did something wrong I think there's no borland/codgear nag/signature. If anyone wants to confirm this, here is the hex string I found in both compiler's binaries 263D4F38C28237B8F3244203179B3A83