RR now charging royalties

[Klaus Major]

Hi all,


looks like this is going to be a gigantic thread...

In this mail i want to try to explain the new "installation license" 
thing to me in my own words.
(I am not a lawyer and i am not native english speaking, so it might 
apply to many RR-users
and help them understand as well.)

Please correct me if i am wrong here and there or if i am too naive 
sometimes.

My aim is to really understand the new license.

(The points here may not be in the same order as on the RR website)
Please excuse capitals, i just use them to point out the most important 
things.

Of course, most of the following is my personal opinion...

1.
"I'm the owner of a previous version of Revolution. How does this 
license affect me?
We have special policies for existing customers. Please contact 
support at runrev.com"

The german law is quite clear in this case (even for non-lawyers ;-)
(I talked to a lawyer the other day. I know him personally, that's 
all ;-)

After a contract has been signed, the conditions must NOT be changed 
AFTERWARDS, unless
the partner who wants to change it asks the other partner personally (!) 
and the other partner
HAS to AGREE.

So this is totally illegal according to german law.


2.
Shareware-programmers a poor folks.
(I created shareware for the mac in my SuperCard days and so i know what 
i am talking about.)
Almost noone pays for an app that is fully functional.
So one has to build some clever restrictions that have to be unlocked
via a license-code. One hell of a work... (Sometimes more work than the 
actual app ;-)

So it is something completely different compared to retail-software 
developers.

And they should be treated differently.

Freeware-authors shouldn't have to pay this fee at all, or the number of 
good (RR-based)
freeware will soon tend to none...


3.
"Installation of custom software either created in-house or custom 
created by a consultant.
Depends on your needs and organization size. We can bundle training, new 
tool features and other support options.
Or we can simply offer you an inexpensive installation license for your 
organization, or multiple organizations.
Please contact us to discuss your needs."

This is the part that i definitively do not understand...

Cannot see the context... (And i really try hard ;-)

If i develop some cute software and sell it per copy/license, then i am 
responsible
for support, training etc... and NOT the company who created my 
development-tool.

One will get support from Adobe (well, probably not... ;-) if Photoshop 
goes nuts and not from
Metroworks (or whatever tool they use) or am i missing something here ?


###snip

Well, that's it folks.

Thanks for your patience.

Again, please correct me if i am wrong or too naive in some points.


Regards from germany


Klaus Major
kmajor at metascape.org