[Ardour-Dev] Licensing and enforced payments

[John Rigg]

On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 12:42:58AM +0100, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote:
> John Emmas wrote:
> > In effect, the only people who'd pay would be those who Patrick
> > referred to (perhaps harshly) as the "free loaders";  the people who
> > want the latest whizzes and bangs but who don't have the skills or
> > the time or the inclination to contribute in making them happen.
> > This would be their way of making a contribution so that those who DO
> > have the skills, the time and the inclination might get at least get
> > some help in making ends meet, in exchange for their participation.
> 
> john, such "freeloaders" who want the latest whizzes and bangs are
> called "beta testers". they are priceless, even if they don't contribute
> code, because they will find bugs and are strongly motivated to test fixes.
> generally, svn users are *much* more fun to deal with for developers
> than release users, and the break-fix-update-test cycle is a lot more
> efficient.

Agreed. Development relies on the feedback provided by
people testing SVN. Charging people for providing that service
seems like asking an employee to pay his employer.

As far as exempting "official" beta testers goes, many don't
have the time to do that on a regular basis, but will do it
occasionally when they get time. I think many who use Ardour
for paid work are in this category (I know I am). Charging
for SVN acess is likely to discourage the very people whose 
feedback is most relevant.

John