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Ardour is not paywalled. You can get it without charge from just about any and every Linux distribution. You can get the source code without charge from ardou

Ardour is not paywalled. You can get it without charge from just about any and every Linux distribution. You can get the source code without charge from ardour.org/download (or from our mirror repo on github). You can get it (legally) without charge from anybody else who already has it. The only thing you cannot do is to get a ready-to-run binary without charge from ardour.org itself. You can opt to pay as little as US$1 for that, however.

jancsika 3y ago
So if Linux users actually pay you a dollar (or greater) for the download, what do they get? Is it an app image? Edit: added "(or greater)" :)
- em3rgent0rdr 3y ago
  You get a 70 MB "Ardour*.run" file that is a bash script that contains setup instructions followed by raw binary code. And you good the feeling of knowing that you've supporting a great open source project. Also note that only a few linux distros are bleeding-edge (such as Arch-Linux, which will contain binaries for newly released package versions pretty quickly). But if you are on a non-bleeding edge linux distro, your distro's repos aren't kept up-to-date and so the advantage of the Ardour binary download is you get an up-to-date package without having to install a 3rd-party repo or build it yourself.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    Yep, our packages install in parallel with each other (and with repo versions too), so you can keep older versions around. And we aim to release every 2 months. People who pay monthly also get access to nightly builds, allowing them to test things out before release (useful for us, sometimes useful for them). Most of our alpha/beta testers, however, build it themselves, from source.
thih9 3y ago
> Ardour is not paywalled. As I’ve said, its downloads are. E.g. here: https://community.ardour.org/download?architecture=x86_64&type=compiled&platform=mac&paymentSelection=options https://community.ardour.org/download?architecture=x86_64&ty... > The only thing you cannot do is to get a ready-to-run binary without charge from ardour.org itself. This is what I’m referring to as a paywall. For a casual Windows user, source code or Linux repositories are unhelpful, as the website itself states. > You can opt to pay as little as US$1 for that, however. A low paywall is still a paywall.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  In my world, a paywall is something that stops you from getting access to something without paying for it. The Ardour "paywall" does not do that. You may not like the "cost" of the alternative (e.g. finding someone else who already has the Windows version, or learning to build it yourself, or getting someone else to build it for you), but those costs are, I would claim, not part of the "paywall". If you had said "ardour.org doesn't offer ready-to-run binaries unless you pay something for them", I would not even have commented. You're saying "oh, well, they don't provide no-charge downloads, so it's paywalled" is a comment that to me basically ignores what makes libre software libre software.
  - thih9 3y ago
    If looks like you're not considering a resource to be behind a paywall if there's a way to get it via other means, without paying. I'd say the opposite is true, you can put content behind a paywall in one place, even if it is freely (libre and/or gratis) available elsewhere. Wikipedia has a page called "List of public domain resources behind a paywall" [1], this seems a nice example. To me Ardour binaries are another. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_domain_resources_behind_a_paywall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_domain_resource... .
    - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
      You are walking down a road in a small town. On the left, one of the residents, is selling freshly cut sunflowers for $2.99 a bunch. You ask them if you can have a bunch for free, and they say no. You keep walking. A few blocks up ahead, you come across another resident who has put a bucket of cut sunflowers in front of the their yard, free for the taking. Are the sunflowers "behind a paywall" in any functional sense? Does the fact that one possible place to get them requires payment mean anything when they are available at no cost elsewhere?

jancsika 3y ago

So if Linux users actually pay you a dollar (or greater) for the download, what do they get? Is it an app image? Edit: added "(or greater)" :)

em3rgent0rdr 3y ago
You get a 70 MB "Ardour*.run" file that is a bash script that contains setup instructions followed by raw binary code. And you good the feeling of knowing that you've supporting a great open source project. Also note that only a few linux distros are bleeding-edge (such as Arch-Linux, which will contain binaries for newly released package versions pretty quickly). But if you are on a non-bleeding edge linux distro, your distro's repos aren't kept up-to-date and so the advantage of the Ardour binary download is you get an up-to-date package without having to install a 3rd-party repo or build it yourself.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  Yep, our packages install in parallel with each other (and with repo versions too), so you can keep older versions around. And we aim to release every 2 months. People who pay monthly also get access to nightly builds, allowing them to test things out before release (useful for us, sometimes useful for them). Most of our alpha/beta testers, however, build it themselves, from source.

thih9 3y ago

> Ardour is not paywalled. As I’ve said, its downloads are. E.g. here: https://community.ardour.org/download?architecture=x86_64&type=compiled&platform=mac&paymentSelection=options https://community.ardour.org/download?architecture=x86_64&ty... > The only thing you cannot do is to get a ready-to-run binary without charge from ardour.org itself. This is what I’m referring to as a paywall. For a casual Windows user, source code or Linux repositories are unhelpful, as the website itself states. > You can opt to pay as little as US$1 for that, however. A low paywall is still a paywall.

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
In my world, a paywall is something that stops you from getting access to something without paying for it. The Ardour "paywall" does not do that. You may not like the "cost" of the alternative (e.g. finding someone else who already has the Windows version, or learning to build it yourself, or getting someone else to build it for you), but those costs are, I would claim, not part of the "paywall". If you had said "ardour.org doesn't offer ready-to-run binaries unless you pay something for them", I would not even have commented. You're saying "oh, well, they don't provide no-charge downloads, so it's paywalled" is a comment that to me basically ignores what makes libre software libre software.
- thih9 3y ago
  If looks like you're not considering a resource to be behind a paywall if there's a way to get it via other means, without paying. I'd say the opposite is true, you can put content behind a paywall in one place, even if it is freely (libre and/or gratis) available elsewhere. Wikipedia has a page called "List of public domain resources behind a paywall" [1], this seems a nice example. To me Ardour binaries are another. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_domain_resources_behind_a_paywall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_domain_resource... .
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    You are walking down a road in a small town. On the left, one of the residents, is selling freshly cut sunflowers for $2.99 a bunch. You ask them if you can have a bunch for free, and they say no. You keep walking. A few blocks up ahead, you come across another resident who has put a bucket of cut sunflowers in front of the their yard, free for the taking. Are the sunflowers "behind a paywall" in any functional sense? Does the fact that one possible place to get them requires payment mean anything when they are available at no cost elsewhere?