LiveCode for the Hobbyists

[Curry Kenworthy]

Howdy Folks,

This is a very interesting thread with the pricing plan changing.

LiveCode's Community Edition will fit the needs of many hobbyists 
perfectly, as others have rightly pointed out. But to be fair, it's 
unrealistic (false dichotomy) to believe that all software must be 
either commercial or open source, or that all hobbyists must produce 
only open source code. The world is not quite so simple!

I've seen many people create freeware in spare time and decide to charge 
money (or not) for some products after gaining a following or after 
having more time. The decision often comes later.

Some hobbyists are too busy with work, education, family, or health to 
launch a business at the moment. It would be silly to say that they have 
no valid interest in keeping future options available for their code if 
they wish. That's their decision, either way.

Even when money is not a goal, plenty of freeware products remain 
closed. That's why we have different names for freeware and open source. 
The web app is a good solution, but being realistic again, it won't fit 
all apps.

So if some hobbyists are worried, I understand completely! I'd say watch 
for helpful sales and lock-ins. I can't predict the future, but LiveCode 
sales have happened many times in the past, and you might even notice 
some patterns if you want to gamble on them. Key word, gamble. Locking 
in now is the safest option if you can afford it.

Worst case, you can wait and hope (and ask) for another eventual change 
in pricing strategy. Explain your situation to LiveCode and see what 
happens. Things have changed before. The company does listen when people 
reach out.

Of course the Community Edition offers a whole heck of a lot to 
hobbyists for the very low price of free, and for many of them, perhaps 
the majority, that's all they will need while tinkering to their heart's 
content or even working on what could become the next killer product!

Then again there's no free lunch, as the rising paid prices demonstrate. 
That's a bit of software socialism in action, and the resulting new 
pricing widens the gap for the paid features. Now we're not just talking 
about hobbyists. The overall value of the LiveCode package also 
increases with new inclusions, no argument there, but doubling the fee 
for mandatory inclusions won't be a trivial change for some Indy coders.

I often talk to startups and smaller established companies with pretty 
tight budgets, and it's an easy conclusion that some folks would better 
afford an option like the current Indy price with fewer new inclusions. 
There's no doubt that some potential customers will be lost under the 
new pricing, but that's up to LiveCode to weigh the pros and cons, and 
it'll be interesting to see how this works out.

BTW, as my sudden appearance here may cause ripples in the pond, I'll 
pre-answer: I'm working on SpreadLib at the moment; it and WordLib have 
updates coming up soon, involving SpreadOut and WordOut features among 
other things. The FieldTrip update will be after them, and who knows, I 
may have something else up my sleeve for this year besides those. :)

My wonderful clients keep me pretty busy, so if you don't see me talking 
here on the list for a little while, you'll know that I'm layin' down 
some code in serious quantities. But just like Arnold, "I'll be back" 
here pretty soon! I hope everyone is having an excellent year so far.

Best wishes,

Curry Kenworthy
-- 
WordLib: Import MS Word and OpenOffice documents
http://curryk.com/wordlib.html

Need custom software development or LiveCode help?
http://curryk.com/consulting/

================

Matt Maier:
 > you could host the software as a web app

hh:
 >> you would like to share the code with some people only, not with all.
 >> And at the same time you are willing to share your product with all,
 >> for free.

Matt Maier:
 >>> But, if you're a hobbyist, and not charging for what you distribute,
 >>> why would you need to close the source?