Nice Post. As Christ was wont to do, a good illustration is capable of saying a lot.
> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Don A. Elbourne Jr. > Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 9:56 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [sword-devel] Selling Sword Modules > > > Lets suppose the Sword project received an inquiry such as the one below. > What would the response be? Would the Sword Project be able to help? > > ------- > > Dear Sword Project > > I am the president of a small publishing company that produces > material for > the Christian market. For the past 5 years we have been working > with some of > today's leading evangelical scholars to produce a commentary series on the > whole Bible. We are about 6 months from completing this project and are > considering distribution possibilities other than standard print. We have > approached the major Bible software makers, but have come to the > conclusion > that the initial financial commitment is cost prohibitive. then we heard > about The Sword Project and your free Bible software package. > > We would like to speak to you about making our commentary series, and > perhaps some of our other previously published material, available in the > Sword Project format. We see that all of your material is currently in the > public domain and without cost. We applaud your efforts and wish that we > could distribute our material for free, however in order for us to recoup > the costs incurred with such a large project, and to finance subsequent > projects we have decided to charge a nominal fee for our digital material. > Would our selling of Sword Modules be incongruent with your mission > statement? Would it be possible to bundle our purchasable modules > with your > free modules and free software? > > We envision two modes of digital delivery. The first would be via our > forthcoming web site. We would like customers to be able to > download locked > modules from our site and purchase an unlock key. Is their currently a > mechanism in place for Sword modules to be unlocked after authorization? > > The second delivery method would be a full package CD ROM containing our > material, the Sword software, and as much free public domain > material as can > fit on the CD. Our main concern with this is software piracy. > Unfortunately, > dealing with Christian material does not preclude the possibility > of piracy. > We are familiar enough with the software industry to know that there is no > feasible way to squelch unauthorized copying altogether. All we would want > is some sort of mechanism that would deter easy copying of the material. > Some sort of customer code registration tied into the software would > probably be adequate. CDs would be available through direct mail-order and > in Christian Book stores throughout the United States. > > We look forward to your reply. > > for the cause of Christ, > > Joe B. Publisher > > ------------------------ > > I think I got a little carried away with that role playing. lol Basically, > what would the Sword Project say to someone like this? Is there a way for > him to sell his locked modules? How would he go about locking the modules, > distributing the keys, tracking customers, and preventing piracy? > Are these > things possible with Sword? do they go against the mission > statement. Would > his plans conflict with the current Sword license? > > by grace alone, > > Don A. Elbourne Jr. > http://elbourne.org > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
