4 ms·
While I can appreciate your misgivings, I might point out a counter data point: Blender. Now, I'm not saying this software is Blender, but if it can be ransomed
by npsimons 14y ago
While I can appreciate your misgivings, I might point out a counter data point: Blender. Now, I'm not saying this software is Blender, but if it can be ransomed into OSS for an equitable price, why not?
- benatkin 14y agoThe scenario was materially different with Blender. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)#History
- ajross 14y agoExactly. I actually did contribute to the Blender fund. It was a real, working product, with verifiable quality, and the offer was concrete: 100k euro for the known-to-be-existing source. I'm willing to pay for that. I'm not willing to pay for someone to "work on" a project I can't touch yet; especially knowing the failure rate single-developer software projects have. (And yes, there were all sorts of technical squabbles about the Blender release, like license choice and worries about whether the IP would turn out to be "pure". But everyone was pure of intent, and things worked out.)