"Introducing New LiveCode Licenses"

Mon Oct 28 16:28:47 EDT 2013

On 10/28/2013 10:00 PM, Mark Schonewille wrote:
> Hi Richmond,
>
> I kind of agree that Heather seems to suggest that the $20 license and 
> the open source license are similar, but she doesn't actually say so. 
> She only says that product A was replaced with product B.
>
> I do think, though, that RunRev needs to bring back the option of 
> licensing single platforms or another way to acquire a low-budget 
> license, such as PayG. RunRev seems to think that only companies need 
> licenses, but hobby developers have a need for (single-platform) 
> licenses too and they don't have a big budget.

This has been a continuing problem with RunRev. They have repeatedly 
failed to see that a single platform
licence or a pay-as-you go system will bring them revenue. I fought with 
them and we ended up with revMedia which went from a cheapo to a free to 
a quickly evaporated status.

Whole the Open Source version of Livecode is marvellous (and I was one 
of the first to plonk my pennies on the table for that one) it has not 
plugged the gap where educators on small-scale budgets hang out, nor
people like a friend of my Dad who is working on a bit of software for 
pensioners to learning English Church bell ringing routines which he 
intends to sell for small sums which he will then contribute to a bell 
fund at his local church.

Now I have all sorts of small-scale plans up my sleeve which may or may 
not bring me in some money; but I am not about to stick my neck out for 
a whacking great sum on the off-chance that something will 'take' in a 
serious way.

I am sure I am not alone in this respect.

While right now I am releasing a version of my Devawriter Pro that is 
fully functional it does sport a Thorsten Lemke style time related block 
screen at start up to try to persuade the odd chap here and there to lob 
me the odd spondulic; with the open source version nobody would do that 
as all they would have to do is crack open the code and do a bit of 
twiddling.

I currently continue to develop with LC 4.5 as my "revenue stream" is a 
trickle at best. No were I able to, say, 'rent' an up-to-date version of 
LC for a week at a decent rate (say $100) I ight risk that; then, if the 
product were to suddenly leap from Zero-to-Hero with any features I 
introduced from a new version of LC (in may case none spring immediately 
to  mind right now) I might reinvest my returns on some sort of more 
long-term or permanent licence.

Until RunRev can produce a version that stops Windows Vista and later 
from playing font substitution games
with Unicode fonts they won't get a penny more from me I'm afraid to 
say. This is the feature that will "grab Richmond by the tail and hold 
on fast."

>
> I have an ongoing survey at http://qery.us/40u and the results very 
> clearly show that a vast majority of RunRev users who are willing to 
> invest a little money consists of hobby programmers and not companies: 
> 44% of the respondents are hobby programmers and only 14% use LiveCode 
> as the main tool to make a living; 20% are software developer but 
> don't use LC (as the main tool or at all), 11% didn't indicate whether 
> they use LC and the remaining 11% are teachers and students.
>
> RunRev is at risk of losing customers because hobby programmers want 
> to be able to release a commercial app once in a while and there are 
> less expensive alternative options for this.

I don't think RunRev have ever got that far away from the MetaCard model 
(the thing cost buckets), and
I am sure its price, apart from anything else, is what finally finished 
commercial MetaCard off.

>
> -- 
> Best regards,
>
> Mark Schonewille
>
> Economy-x-Talk Consulting and Software Engineering
> Homepage: http://economy-x-talk.com
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/xtalkprogrammer
> KvK: 50277553
>
> Use Color Converter to convert CMYK, RGB, RAL, XYZ, H.Lab and other 
> colour spaces. http://www.color-converter.com
>
> Buy my new book "Programming LiveCode for the Real Beginner" 
> http://qery.us/3fi
>
> Fill out this survey please
> http://livecodebeginner.economy-x-talk.com/survey/
>
> On 10/28/2013 20:09, Richmond wrote:
>> On 10/28/2013 07:38 PM, Heather Laine wrote:
>>> We replaced it with the free, open source edition.
>>
>> A free, open source edition is NOT in any way whatsoever the same or the
>> equivalent of a $20 a month
>> commercial licence, and it is slightly disingenuous to suggest they
>> might in some way be equivalent.
>>
>> One offers the ability to produce close source work which other people
>> will find hard to steal, while the other produces open source work that
>> is up for grabs for anybody who wants it.
>>
>> Why not say this sort of thing?
>>
>> The $20 a month wasn't bringing in the sort of moolah we need, so what
>> we did was dump it, and you can either go for the open source solution
>> (with the concommitent risks involved if you decide to try to make money
>> out of your open source offerings) or stump up a rather larger sum for
>> the, undoubted, benefits you will get from the commercial version.
>>
>> Also, RunRev may have got wind of sneaky characters like myself, who
>> would work on a bit of software as long as they liked on the community
>> version until it were "just right" and then pay ONLY $20 for a month's
>> go with the commercial version to pump out a code-protected standalone.
>>
>> Now, if that is the case, I cannot but agree with RunRev; they were
>> leaving themselves wide open to abuse.
>>
>>>
>>> Great to hear you're giving a talk, we'd love to hear how that goes!
>>> Please do feel free to email support at runrev.com if there is some way
>>> we can assist either with materials or license options.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Heather
>>>
>>> On 28 Oct 2013, at 17:11, Rick Harrison wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi there,
>>>>
>>>> What ever happened to the $20 per month pay as you go commercial
>>>> license?
>>>>
>>>> I have to give a talk about LiveCode to a bunch of developers this
>>>> coming week, and that was an attractive license for them to get 
>>>> started.
>>>> Is that gone now?
>>
>> Hey, want to hear a very old story about the chap who gave with one hand
>> while taking away with the other?
>>
>> Or, put another way: you cannot keep all the people happy all the time.
>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Rick
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Heather Laine
>>> Customer Services Manager
>>> http://www.livecode.com/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Richmond.
>>
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>>
>
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Richmond.