"Introducing New LiveCode Licenses"

[Curry Kenworthy]

Richard Gaskin wrote:

> With all due respect, any startup that can't budget $500/yr for a tool
> that provides as much for them as LC does has a problem with their
> business plan, not with LiveCode.
>
> For everyone else. free is a great price.  Remember that the GPL only
> governs distributed works, so hobbyists and even professional devs
> making in-house tools for the businesses they work in can use the
> GPL-governed version.

Howdy Richard,

Very true! And here's the context. Some people are suggesting a free 
Commercial version, and I was responding to Mark Wilcox. He noted that a 
third of mobile appers are hobbyists, and: "Without a free commercial 
option these people will not start a potentially commercial (even small 
scale) project in LiveCode". Monte also commented on the free idea.

I don't think a free Commercial version would be good. We already have a 
free version, and as you say, it's handy for many pursuits. Another free 
version would be chaotic to my way of thinking, and probably drive up 
the price of full licenses.

> The only real value for a Commercial license is when shipping commercial
> products.

The FAQ indicates a Commercial license for submitting a free app to the 
iOS store. Or a student or hobbyist may want to distribute some preview 
copies for a desktop app to judge demand or conduct a beta without 
releasing the source.

And in the past, there were some cheaper licenses based on limited 
platforms. These allowed people to pay their way when they didn't need 
(or couldn't afford yet) the whole set. Nothing shabby about that, and 
it worked well in the past. People went ahead and got the full set when 
they could, because that was the better deal, but the platform options 
were a stepping stone for some.

But rest assured that I'm okay with your way of thinking. My beef is 
with going free on any Commercial license. Since RunRev chose the open 
source route for the free offering, I think some amount of money needs 
to change hands for getting into closed source. How much that is, I'll 
leave to you and Richmond to settle. :)

Best wishes,

Curry K.