What is your vote for charting?

[Richard Gaskin]

Skip wrote:
> I need to produce some good looking charts in my app.
>
> What is your vote: Charts Engine or  ChartMaker?

I don't yet have experience with either, and both developers have a good 
reputation for well-conceived APIs, so it may be a close call.

For myself, one requirement both myself and my clients have for 
libraries is that we have the option to acquire a limited license for 
modifying the source within a proprietary work.  Whether we need to 
modify it some some app-specific need, or just need to make an emergency 
bug fix for some unexpected change in the engine, being able to do so is 
essential for us.

Curry Kenworthy has done a great job on that with licensing options for 
his WordLib and other libraries.  He provides an option that costs a 
multiple of the standard usage license, and grants the licensee the 
right to modify the source however they may need for their work, while 
restricting redistribution of the library by itself so it protects his 
own interests as well.

I recently had a correspondence with Hugh Senior (ChartMaker) on this, 
and while we haven't yet sealed the deal I don't think he'd mind me 
noting that he was receptive to the idea.

I don't know if Charts Engine provides such an option, but it seems at 
least worth asking for.  In practical terms, for a library developer it 
means a much larger check and a smaller support obligation, so it seems 
a good deal all around.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
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