[Ardour-Dev] [Ardour-Users] Could this solve Ardour's financial headache?

[Patrick Shirkey]

sonofzev at iinet.net.au wrote:
>
>
>     > All of these suggestions are counter to the GPL licensing and FOSS
>     > concepts.. to achieve these ardour would have to have a closed
>     > source version.
>     >
>     A binary release is a closed source version except that if you
>     want to
>     you can get the original source and compile it yourself. Many Mac and
>     these days Linux users are not interested in compiling an application
>     themselves.
>
>
>
>     )
>
>     Not exactly..
>
>     The GPL dictates that the source be available but not purely for
>     the case of compliling but also for using the code.. if the source
>     code is available the binary is still considered open source. 
>
The majority of the world do not make this distinction ;-)


>     I'm pretty sure to do the above ardour would need to have code
>     elements that aren't GPL'd and only available by payment .. such
>     as MacOSX with use of BSD code and GPL code. 
>      
>     With regards to compiling though.. I'm sure many users would
>     simply start compiling if they knew that's how they could get it
>     for free.. and of course the binary would be up on torrents in no
>     time.
>
>
Do we even have an Ardour torrent as it is?

There are a number of users who would find a way to work around the 
system but the majority wouldn't bother. The ticker would not stop you 
from using the app or disable any features so most people would just 
live with it or pay to turn it off.

I strongly believe that people would actually enjoy having it on as it 
would give them a sense of community and a feel good factor for being a 
part of a motivated, clever and productive community too.  Also if 
people could pay to advertise their work on it then it would be another 
way to promote and potentially make some extra cash.


Cheers.




-- 
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd.