John Dixon wrote:
After asking the mobGUI author to please share the source code with those
of us who have purchased his libraries, and receiving a resounding, "No!"
Well what did you expect... !?
A Curry Kenworthy-quality response. :)
With Curry's Wordlib and other nifty tools he makes, he ships the
library alone at a great low price, but for professional devs who need
source he also provides that as an option for an additional fee.
The source fee is several times higher than the use fee, and comes with
a few reasonable restrictions like requiring that the licensee use it
only as an incidental part of a larger work and not resell the source in
anything marketed specifically as a developer tool (non-compete).
Those limitations protect his interests, and providing source protects
the interests of our clients:
From time to time we may need to modify the source for a quick fix in
response to engine changes, or some specialized enhancement for a
particular project, or even a simple bug fix, and having source allows
us to respond to our clients' requirements easily.
Without source, we can't respond at all. :(
To serve my clients well requires that I provide all source for
everything we deliver to them outside of the LiveCode engine itself.
I've never withheld source from a client (though I recognize that some
developers have, esp. in the olden days of the business, and even some
graphic artists who get stingy with their Photoshop files in a clumsy
attempt to create vendor lock-in); to fulfill that I require all of my
vendors and subcontractors to deliver source as well.
Merde happens. Force majeure is not just a theoretical contract clause,
but it's in every good contract because it addresses very real
contingencies. Sometimes a developer may become unavailable for a wide
range of reasons, including fire, riot, earthquakes, floods, serious
injury or even death (I've personally experienced all but the latter
over my 20 years in business; I live in Los Angeles <g>). In those
cases, for the viability of their business the client must always remain
in a position to be able to work on the code through other means if
necessary.
Withholding source prevents that, creating unnecessary risk for a
client's business.
Vendors like Curry understand this, and provide an affordable option
with license terms that protect his own interests as well.
I see no reason why other vendors can't follow his lead. None of my
clients will use anything other than tools that include a source option,
and are quite willing to pay for it so the developers makes a lot more
money without writing a single additional line of code; a win-win for all.
--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World
LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FourthWorldSys
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