5 ms·

What does this mean for Qt, in you opinion?

by eliben 16y ago

bergie 16y ago
Via talk.maemo.org (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=962346&postcount=282 http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=962346&postcount=28...): They bought the Consulting side basically - where it was possible to buy commercial licenses (didn't buy the core developers). Qt's moving towards open governance and Nokia (as stated) has developers contributing to Qt. This makes sense, really, to avoid commercial Qt users from despairing about Nokia's plans.
- mullr 16y ago
  Unless I'm missing something big, this means that the only part of Qt making money is now divorced from Qt development. So the development staff inside Nokia is not profitable and no longer strategic. In a large company, this is when you start looking for a new job.
  - Maakuth 16y ago
    Good point, except that Qt licensing has never bought in very big money to Nokia or Trolltech before it, especially after they changed the license from GPL to LGPL. I think Qt's being strategic lies in their being part of Nokia platforms. On the other hand, Digia has been doing a lot of Qt work for Nokia, so it's good news for their developers.
    - mullr 16y ago
      How did trolltech ever make money, except for Qt licensing? They had Qtopia and what not, but I don't think Nokia is continuing that.
      - eliben 16y ago
        Consider how Digia used to make money (taken from Qt's blog on this news item) Employing hundreds of Qt experts, Digia has 7 years experience in providing top-class Qt competence, and is dedicated to continue and grow Qt Commercial relationships as well as to contribute innovation to the overall Qt LGPL and commercial community.
        teyc 16y ago
        I'd take that "hundreds" and divide it by 4 to arrive at the upper bound of the number of actual Qt developers Digia have.
      - bergie 16y ago
        From when Nokia acquired TrollTech (http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3235 http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3235): Trolltech's total revenue is around €25 million. Total losses were around €6 million for the last couple of years. Total cash on hand at this point is around €13 million. They've got around 250 employees worldwide. No info, though, on how this was split between licensing and other professional services.
  - hartror 16y ago
    I'm sure they have ever since Nokia aligned themselves with Microsoft.
  - tallanvor 16y ago
    I know one person in Nokia who did/does developer support. He's looking like a genius now because he submitted his resignation a month before the new partnership was announced (in Norway it's common to have to give 3 months notice).
- gregschlom 16y ago
  According to this comment [1], Qt has around 4000 licensees. A license is around $3,000, so that's roughly a 12 million dollar business, if we can trust those numbers. Edit: actually, it's on the Qt press release itself. They state there [2] that: > The Qt Commercial licensing business is growing and has around 3500 companies [1] http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/16/nokia-cto-rich-green-speaks-about-qt/#comment-3048 http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/16/nokia-cto-rich-green-spe... [2] http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/03/07/nokia-and-digia-working-together/ http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/03/07/nokia-and-digia-working-...
  - joezydeco 16y ago
    The commercial development license is one facet, but the royalty per-unit payments are not mentioned. The product I currently ship with Qt is somewhere around USD $1 a unit.
    - bostonpete 16y ago
      Is this some sort of licensing model that they don't advertise? The only commercial licenses I'm aware of are per-developer licenses with no royalty structure.
      - joezydeco 16y ago
        The rules are like this (from Nokia's page): "For regular desktop applications, there are no royalties, runtime licenses, or other additional costs. For fixed systems or devices where the main functionality relies on Qt, a runtime distribution license may apply."
    - joezydeco 16y ago
      Correction: Talked to my production manager and it's more like $5. Geebus.
limmeau 16y ago
For those using Qt for multiplatform desktop applications: better than being tied to a disinterested mobile phone company.

What does this mean for Qt, in you opinion?

by eliben 16y ago

What does this mean for Qt, in you opinion?

Via talk.maemo.org (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=962346&postcount=282 http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=962346&postcount=28...): They bought the Consulting side basically - where it was possible to buy commercial licenses (didn't buy the core developers). Qt's moving towards open governance and Nokia (as stated) has developers contributing to Qt. This makes sense, really, to avoid commercial Qt users from despairing about Nokia's plans.

mullr 16y ago
Unless I'm missing something big, this means that the only part of Qt making money is now divorced from Qt development. So the development staff inside Nokia is not profitable and no longer strategic. In a large company, this is when you start looking for a new job.
- Maakuth 16y ago
  Good point, except that Qt licensing has never bought in very big money to Nokia or Trolltech before it, especially after they changed the license from GPL to LGPL. I think Qt's being strategic lies in their being part of Nokia platforms. On the other hand, Digia has been doing a lot of Qt work for Nokia, so it's good news for their developers.
  - mullr 16y ago
    How did trolltech ever make money, except for Qt licensing? They had Qtopia and what not, but I don't think Nokia is continuing that.
    - eliben 16y ago
      Consider how Digia used to make money (taken from Qt's blog on this news item) Employing hundreds of Qt experts, Digia has 7 years experience in providing top-class Qt competence, and is dedicated to continue and grow Qt Commercial relationships as well as to contribute innovation to the overall Qt LGPL and commercial community.
      - teyc 16y ago
        I'd take that "hundreds" and divide it by 4 to arrive at the upper bound of the number of actual Qt developers Digia have.
    - bergie 16y ago
      From when Nokia acquired TrollTech (http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3235 http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3235): Trolltech's total revenue is around €25 million. Total losses were around €6 million for the last couple of years. Total cash on hand at this point is around €13 million. They've got around 250 employees worldwide. No info, though, on how this was split between licensing and other professional services.
- hartror 16y ago
  I'm sure they have ever since Nokia aligned themselves with Microsoft.
- tallanvor 16y ago
  I know one person in Nokia who did/does developer support. He's looking like a genius now because he submitted his resignation a month before the new partnership was announced (in Norway it's common to have to give 3 months notice).
gregschlom 16y ago
According to this comment [1], Qt has around 4000 licensees. A license is around $3,000, so that's roughly a 12 million dollar business, if we can trust those numbers. Edit: actually, it's on the Qt press release itself. They state there [2] that: > The Qt Commercial licensing business is growing and has around 3500 companies [1] http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/16/nokia-cto-rich-green-speaks-about-qt/#comment-3048 http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/16/nokia-cto-rich-green-spe... [2] http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/03/07/nokia-and-digia-working-together/ http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2011/03/07/nokia-and-digia-working-...
- joezydeco 16y ago
  The commercial development license is one facet, but the royalty per-unit payments are not mentioned. The product I currently ship with Qt is somewhere around USD $1 a unit.
  - bostonpete 16y ago
    Is this some sort of licensing model that they don't advertise? The only commercial licenses I'm aware of are per-developer licenses with no royalty structure.
    - joezydeco 16y ago
      The rules are like this (from Nokia's page): "For regular desktop applications, there are no royalties, runtime licenses, or other additional costs. For fixed systems or devices where the main functionality relies on Qt, a runtime distribution license may apply."
  - joezydeco 16y ago
    Correction: Talked to my production manager and it's more like $5. Geebus.

limmeau 16y ago

For those using Qt for multiplatform desktop applications: better than being tied to a disinterested mobile phone company.