Who said anything about providing "unrestricted full access licenses on an honour system" ? That's an extrapolation of an argument nobody is making to a conclusion that nobody is suggesting.
All I am saying is that imposing a license restriction could be counter-productive. We can sit and argue the cases that it works for vs the cases that it doesn't until the cows come home, all from the comfortable position of already having access to the Professional/Enterprise/Architect licenses we already use. I simply suggest the view that US$1000 doesn't work in a sufficiently high proportion of possible and realistic scenarios that it could act as a strong DISincentive to the very people that the new Start Edition is intended to attract. The marketing message is "GET DELPHI FOR $200 NOW [and be forced to pay $800 more later or lose what you already paid for]" vs "FREE FOREVER" That's not to say that Delphi itself must be "FREE FOREVER", only that it needs a better message than this bait-and-switch if it is to realistically *compete* with FREE FOREVER in the space that we are told this new edition is targeted at, and that IS the space it is competing in. And do not forget that I still think this is better than what we had before. J The bigger [potential] problem being that if/when the Starter Edition *fails* to attract these new users, Embarcadero will turn around and declare them a failure, that there isn't a market for an entry level Delphi, and that this vindicates and justifies the higher pricing. Turbo Redux. From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On Behalf Of Kyley Harris Sent: Tuesday, 1 February 2011 14:16 To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List Subject: Re: [DUG] Delphi Starter Edition I understand all your points.. Now.. Lets do a survey of Delphi developers.. How many people are there writing software in delphi and providing unrestricted full access licenses on an Honor system with the expectation that their clients might pay them later? excluding any trial limits, feature restrictions etc etc, but relying on a paper licence unsigned that states some rules that might get enforced. I think the reality is that people will take it if it seems fair, and wont take it if it doesn't, but there isn't much point worrying about it. its a buyers market and the real loss will be to embacardo if they have made a bad decision. Whats that saying.. Better a million people pirating my software than pirating the competitions. :) eventually there is a return from someone. On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 1:45 PM, Jolyon Smith <jsm...@deltics.co.nz> wrote: 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? _______________________________________________ NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: unsubscribe -- Kyley Harris Harris Software +64-21-671-821 _______________________________________________ NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: unsubscribe -- Kyley Harris Harris Software +64-21-671-821
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