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.
Most ("most" not "all") people only "cheat" when they feel that the rules
aren't fair in the first place.
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 ?
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.
But the idea is to attract new users, right? Users who do Delphi as a hobby
or who have an idea that *might* 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).
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 ?
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 revenue, 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!!
I think I'd choose a different camera, wouldn't you ?
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?
I don't think this is an entirely fantastical situation to imagine.
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).
From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
Behalf Of Kyley Harris
Sent: Tuesday, 1 February 2011 13:04
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] Delphi Starter Edition
I would think Students too..
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
On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Jeremy North <jeremy.no...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> The $1000 revenue limit is also bizarrely low imho - it's high enough to
> worm it's way around any "non-commercial use" restriction, but not high
> enough to realistically be anything other than a "non-commercial use only"
> restriction in all but name.
It is targeted at open source or hobbyists developers. I don't see any
issues with the limit.
Is the $1000 per year or a running total?
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Kyley Harris
Harris Software
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