On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 17:54, Darren Pearce <[email protected]> wrote: > I would like this sort of feature as well for the same reason as Emilian. I > have software that is hosted on Google Code but only downloadable from a > site that asks for an email address before giving access to the download > link. Of course, anyone so inclined would be able to generate a download > from the open source repository but I expect very few people would do this. > At present, asking for an email address is a pre-requisite but, as you say, > Ben, once someone has downloaded the software, there is nothing to stop them > giving copies to other people without us knowing. This is fine since we only > want a rough idea of the spread of the software.
I'm speaking here as a user/developer of open source software, not as a Google employee. I find this kind of thing *extremely* annoying. It's one level below popup ads on the Richter scale of annoying things. Demanding that I surrender personal information before graciously allowing me to download your software is certainly your choice, but it's stretching the definition of open source quite a bit. Why do you need this information for me to have access to the downloads? Usually, when an "open source" project tries to pull this kind of stunt, I close the browser tab and never return. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who reacts like this. Of course, it's a free world and all that, you do as you please with your creation (and I do as I please as a user and walk away), but I'm curious as to why you think it's necessary that I give you information before I'm allowed to touch your code. - Dave > On a related note, are there any plans to integrate a mailing list for each > piece of software? One could imagine an opt-in approach whereby when someone > downloads from a Google Project, they are asked whether they would like to > join the mailing list to receive updates, etc. > It would be nice to have a 'forum' per project maintained automatically by > Google Code. > Thanks, > :Darren. > > On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 2:10 PM, emilian.pascalau > <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> The idea is that I would like to know where the project is used, by >> others, of course if they want to complete such a questionnaire. >> >> >> On Feb 19, 3:04 pm, Ben Collins-Sussman <[email protected]> wrote: >> > We have no such feature, though you're certainly welcome to ask people >> > to do it. Forcing them to do it as a "precondition" is pretty much >> > against the spirit of the open source license, though... and once >> > they've downloaded the source, they'd be free to distribute it to >> > anyone else without your permission anyway. >> > >> > On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 7:45 AM, emilian.pascalau >> > >> > <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > > hello, >> > >> > > I am interested if there is the possibility to provide a questionnaire >> > > as a condition for project sources download. >> > >> > > thank you >> > > emilian >> >> > > > > -- > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > :Darren :Pearce > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > *** Shop & Donate: http://buy.at/campuskids *** > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > [email protected] > Postdoctoral Researcher > London Knowledge Lab, University of London > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > [email protected] > Visiting Research Fellow > Informatics, University of Sussex > http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/darrenp/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > [email protected] > http://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenpearce > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hosting at Google Code" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-code-hosting?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
