FreePascal has more posts than Kylix!

[cairnswm]

So maybe the borland products isn;t what this site is all about

[WILL]

Not any more my friend... It's all about the big P.

FPC is growing quite the calling these days. And mostly due to the fact that opensource is the hot new thing that everyone is moving towards. And rightfully so. Software has been so commercial for so long lately it's time for a reality check for us all. We are moving into an age of information and technology thus our daily lives must have better access to those mediums.


You don't see people paying for air or purchasing trees that have the sole purpose of producing air to breath, do you?

[cairnswm]

But -

You cant get a car for free - required to get to work.
You cant get a book for free - required to learn

Why should software be free?


I like the idea of open source but I am very hesitent to get involved in an open source project because of the work involved. I am _amazed_ at the dedication some people give to their open source project.

I release a lot of my code for free. There are sources for full game on my site available for free. I absolutly believe in the sharing of information to as many people as possible. But they are not open source - they are free source

[{MSX}]

But -
You cant get a car for free - required to get to work.

Well cars are a different type of good from software. They're not comparable in how you produce and sell them. Just to say one, car requires work to produce for each one, while software only require only to be produced once.
They're different things. You can't get a car for free

You cant get a book for free - required to learn

Books are more like software, and in fact you see around the internet lots of free books. Just look at wikipedia
In fact, i learned all i know about game programming without ever purchasing a book.

Why should software be free?

Nobody sais it must be free. Simply, i prefer open source if i can choose.
It's far more secure, up to date and customizable (in the average).

I like the idea of open source but I am very hesitent to get involved in an open source project because of the work involved. I am _amazed_ at the dedication some people give to their open source project.

I release a lot of my code for free. There are sources for full game on my site available for free. I absolutly believe in the sharing of information to as many people as possible. But they are not open source - they are free source

So what license is your code released with? That's the point
If you give it to the public domain, people can just use it for closed source project. That's far a bad thing, isn't it ?

[cairnswm]

My code is realease "free for any use". If you download my pirates game, chnage the developers name to your own and sell it - thats fine.

I release code to hopefully let other people learn from it. I learn from the internet all the time. I use code snippets from many sources in my code - I dont mention each and every one in a product I want to sell.

Note however - I release a lot of code and also do tutorials for free. A lot - not All. I have code thats mine and that I am trying to use for profit.

[{MSX}]

My code is realease "free for any use". If you download my pirates game, chnage the developers name to your own and sell it - thats fine.

And you're happy with this? People making money with your work?
I think it would be better to enforce the code to be open. Want to use my code? Ok, but then your must be free too. Want to sell a product? Then code it by yourself.

Note however - I release a lot of code and also do tutorials for free. A lot - not All. I have code thats mine and that I am trying to use for profit.

That's ok.. I understand that one can't live with open source. Open source is usually make for hobby or passion.

[cairnswm]

Why not? If my work is good enough and I cant make money form (mainly because I'm lazy) why should some one else not make some money. Anyway I believe in human goodness and I think if anyone actually did that they would probably give me credit/money for it.

Why make it open source as opposed to just releasing it for free? If its free other people can make better use of it, and you dont have to be involved in any way. How many open source projects get passed from their original developer onto other team to continue the work - they all had to ask the originator to be able to do it - not with my stuff, just get a copy modify and use - you dont owe me anything.

Much easier

[Robert Kosek]

Haha. FPC is "the latest and greatest".

What's with all the free vs pay4 software? Who doesn't want to make money doing what they like best? Obviously we like making games in pascal so why not sell for our work? I'd just use a GNU style license.

[cairnswm]

Making money from your work takes effort. I am starting to think that writting the software is the easy work! :shock:

If I write something that I do not think will return in earnings the effort required to market it, why spend the effort on it. Rather turn it over to a community that can use it as a learning tool. IF I keep any control over it I remain involved in its evolution - I have already decided I cannot earn enough from it to spend additional effort on it so release it free and never worry about it again!

I often have this sort of discussion with developers here. They all want to retain control over their creations. I say thats not viable. You need to spend effort in exercising that control - deciding price, market, advertising budget etc. If I have a product I will hand over control of my product to someone interested in marketing it. They make the decisions, they do the effort to sell it. If neccessary I will hand over 60% of my income to this person to ensure that the product is as important to them as to me.

Basically I want to work on the projects I think up. I would much rather someone else worried about EVERYTHING else.

PS. I would love to see someone try sell one of my products Any volunteers to market my stuff?

[Robert Kosek]

PS. I would love to see someone try sell one of my products Any volunteers to market my stuff?

Haha... I couldn't even get ONE "byte" (pun intended) on my app that I wrote (several years ago). I could help you with your website though.

I am convinced that about 60% of the back breaking work is writing the software, but the 40% that is selling is more annoying. I am semi-convinced that a GPL style license is best for shareware, especially when you have a "donate" option. People will always hack your software and steal your resources, why not "give in" and make it more of a pain to crack than simply requesting source/etc?

Anyway I believe in human goodness and I think if anyone actually did that they would probably give me credit/money for it.

Sorry, but I don't believe that. If there is "human goodness" then why are there gangs etc? I seriously think it is the choice of the person as well as their environment. All the "software crackers" are probably folks who were allowed to try either for fun or lack of money.