I should add: The $25 kickstarter award for "Access to software on
release date - plus 5-year system-wide identity and crypto credentials."
is really for the identity and crypto credentials. The code (source,
object, client, server) will ALL be in a public repository under an open
source license. Anybody will be free to generate self-signed
credentials, or go to Verisign - just as they are when running an HTTPS
server.
Miles Fidelman wrote:
Folks, I'm trying to be really clear here.
FOSS (including the GPL) does NOT mean that I have to give software
away, it means that whenever it is distributed it CAN be freely
re-distributed.
Our model is (I think) pretty simple:
- if you want to download the code (source, binary, client-side,
server-side) from our machine, before public release, you have to
contribute to the project -- anybody who downloads it is free to
redistribute it (with open source license attached)
- after public release, all code will be available, for free, under an
open source license, directly from our server
- after public release, there will continue to be some kind of fee for
using the server-side code running on our server; but the server code
will be freely downloadable and anybody can set up their own server
Miles
Patrick Anderson wrote:
Mark Holmquist wrote:
there's a dollar amount sitting between binary and source,
He is keeping the binaries and source bundled together,
but is only distributing those *bundles* to people who pay.
To some, the word 'code' is synonymous with 'source',
but sometimes programmers (such as Miles) use the
word 'code' to mean 'binary'.
For example:
"free to further distribute all source and binary code"
"pay $X more for the source code during alpha and beta".
This should probably read:
"pay $X more for the binary+source during alpha and beta".
What Miles is doing is temporarily withholding the bundles
of binary+source from the general public; only distributing
them to people who actually pay.
Those who pay could also distribute their copies
This is a strategy to get people to pay *early* for work that
is not yet complete.
Paying before production is a profoundly important step
toward solving the mystery of how to compensate those
who want to build a Libre Planet.
--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra