MetaCard vs. Revolution

[Kevin Miller]

On 17/4/02 3:59 pm, JohnRule at aol.com <JohnRule at aol.com> wrote:

>> I know that Revolution uses the "Metacard engine". Why, then, do we have
>> -both- Metacard and Revolution? What I mean by that is: Why does
>> Metacard permit Revolution to utilize its "engine" when people buying
>> Rev licenses are probably giving most of the money to Revolution with a
>> small "engine fee"(?) going back to Metacard?
> 
>> Maybe I'm not seeing the bigger picture or I have some other perspective
>> problem.
> 
> 
> Take a look at the licenses for both...there are some very important
> differences. For instance, if you make a product too close to Revolution's
> (i.e. you are taking business away from them) they can pull the plug on you,
> and sue for damages. Metacard does not have this 'stipulation', because they
> are the owner of the engine. If you do not need to provide editing features
> for your customers, then Revolution is the way to go (it has a much more
> 'robust' interface)...otherwise you can 'cross-grade' to Metacard.
> 
> Someone please correct me if I have 'misread' the Revolution license...

Anyone who creates anything of commercial value is protected by the laws of
copyright.  Revolution is a copyrighted work like any other.  We actually
allow you to use the scripts and code in Revolution in your own projects -
as there is a lot of good code in there you might want to use or learn from.
But allowing you to use them is not the same as allowing you to directly
compete with us by simply copy, paste, and presto start distributing
"Evolution, by Runtime Revelation".  This is the origin of this clause.  We
can only act on this clause if you create something that is clearly intended
to be in competition with Revolution itself.  Its a "don't bite the hand
that feeds you clause".  The Starter Kit limits do offer some protection,
but they are fairly lax limits.  Our contract was reviewed by our lawyers
and they recommended it.  In my view, it doesn't constitute a particularly
major clause that should affect anyone not trying to deliberately take
advantage of the open nature of Revolution to damage our business.  I've yet
to see this clause affect anyone...

Kind regards,

Kevin

Kevin Miller <kevin at runrev.com> <http://www.runrev.com/>
Runtime Revolution Limited - The Solution for Software Development
Tel: +44 (0) 870 747 1165.  Fax: +44 (0)1639 830 707.