OK, other than an earlier plead for sanity, I have stayed out of this
discussion up to now. However, now that the modified license has been
out for a while and everyone has had a chance to go back and force, I
would like to give my opinion as one of the likely few remaining
'Commercial Developers'.
_______________
First of all, I would like to make a few general observations:
1) as far as I can tell, this was not really meant to be 'open source'.
I believe that, early in this series, open source was used in a fairly
general sense and several people latched onto it solidly (and don't seem
to want to let go).
- as far as I can tell, from these threads and several conversations,
Tony never stated that this was to be open source
- Tony seems to be willing to let others move forward with SMSQ/E.
The reasons for this are unknown to me but I can only suspect that it is
partly rooted in the familiar not enough time problem
. this is extremely generous of him. He could have kept it to
himself and just not done any more work (or minimal amounts) on it.
2) the agreement to release the code for external development and with
such generous provisions has been done between Tony and those he chose
to deal with
- all the rest of us can do is offer opinions and 'contribute' where
possible
- it is up to the original agreement holders to implement what they
feel is best for the QL community and which will satisfy Tony's desires
. unless someone has been part of these discussions, they should not
offer 'opinions' or 'suggestions' as to the original agreement or
motives behind them - they simply can't have all the facts
3) up until this discussion of releasing the SMSQ/E source code and
binaries for external development, it has always been controlled and
developed by one person, Tony. There have been absolutely no guarantees
before. In shape that it is taking now, there are at least more people
involved. While there are still no guarantees, at least there is less
chance that everyone will be wiped out by meteors at one time [ sorry -
couldn't help myself :) ]
- the fact that Tony has been very generous with his time and
dedicated to the QL community so long leads me to believe that his
decisions are being made with the best interest of the community in
general (obviously this is my opinion, not a statement of knowledge -
trying to play by my own comments here)
. we have trusted Tony for some time now so why can't we trust his
judgement here?
- we will just have to continue trusting people to do what is right
( and I have NO problem with doing just that, with my gratitude for the
efforts being taken )
4) a reality check says that there is no money to be made in this
business any more. I don't know of anyone making a real profit at this
and personally can't comprehend how we could ever gather enough users
back into the QL scene to make profits realistic again [ I will address
the commercial development in a separate thread in this group ]
- new users and profits are nice dreams but lets face it; with the
costs differences, multimedia, ease of use, etc, we can't compete with
the other options out there
- I suspect that many if not most of us are still with the QL because
we like each other (IE: have fun), like to tinker, and are just very
comfortable with our little black box or equivalents
_______________
Ok, enough general top level comments. Looking at the last release of
the license, I find that it is adequate and more so.
It does:
- allow for others to contribute to the primary SMSQ/E source (and I
know of at least one person who is)
- guarantees a single version of SMSQ/E for all systems [ as a
commercial developer, this is a MUST ]
- doesn't prevent anyone from making external extensions and drivers
for extra capabilities and new hardware
- maintains some control over what goes into it [ protection over bad
code or runaway code ]
- ensures that anyone can look at the sources
- allows for anyone to become a dealer of the binaries with a few
simple rules to follow
- has taken into reasonable account the different conversations and
suggestions that have been made
It does not:
- keep anyone from contributing
- make anyone rich (or even much money at all)
- restrict the growth of SMSQ/E onto new platforms
To be honest, it is not perfect. I could complain about a few points
here and there. But I won't. Simply because it is a far better deal
than we had before, holds a chance for continued growth, and offers a
good framework to start with.
As has been stated, it can be modified as we go. It is important that
we all agree to give it a try and put some trust in all those people who
have over the years poured their efforts into this community. If we
don't do this, then the QL scene will die a quick and painful death.
For those of you who just can't accept it and refuse to give it a try, I
am truly sorry. I personally would be sorry to loose your contributions
and would miss those that I know. But a decision has to be made and we
need to go forward.
I would also suggest that, for those who are still thinking that this is
a no go, before condemning the license and saying that there will be no
one willing to develop under it, that you actually talk to some
additional people who have shown an active interest in working on SMSQ/E
and additional software; try to sound positive and see if people are
willing to work to get what you need into SMSQ/E or as separate drivers
and add-ons. (SMSQ/E is designed to support externals quite nicely -
take a look at how it handles files, memory and other structures).
I personally know of some activity with SMSQ/E that is going on already
that needs to be added before I will be willing to ship my upcoming
product. This activity should work on all systems that run SMSQ/E.
I can also tell you that, at the US show we spent a lot of time
discussing color palettes and how the different systems display colors,
trying to find methods that would work with ALL the platforms, from the
original QLs to Aurora to QPC to Q40/60 and the upcoming GoldFire.
This was a lot of fun, very interesting, and is still ongoing. It was
not a group of people trying to split the community but a group of
people trying to help grow things and make sure that everyone shares in
the advances.
In fact, this kind of activity is why I joined and am still involved in
the QL scene today. Without the dedication, enthusiam, and trust, we
wouldn't be where we are today; or have anywhere to go tomorrow.
To close, I hope that people will give it a try. I applaud with extreme
gratitude those trying to make this happen and those willing to
contribute. A hope that those who have seen things as all or mostly
negative will give it a try and continue to help the community grow -
for everyone.
Just my humble opinion. Hope it helps.
Jim
