Slime wrote:
> 
> > I appreciate this discussion, so please don't hesitate to pursue your
> > arguments further. It is not totally out of the question that I might
> > make changes to some of the terms... :)
> 
> Heh, I'll give this a shot then. =)
> 
> Mainly, the only argument I have is a moral one. You have every right to ask
> for compensation for commercial use. However, the whole thing about POV-Ray
> itself is that it's free. If it weren't free, we wouldn't have the community
> here that we do. We have people who use it for all different reasons, from
> those just playing around to those using it professionally. It's the
> *essence* of our community that there are no strings attached. We're all
> just having fun with a program we like to use, and contributing to it in
> some cases for no reason other than the benefit of the community. Heck,
> there's even povlegal.doc that prohibits the use of the program
> commercially.
> 
> Now, while this legal restriction doesn't apply to scene files themselves,
> the *spirit* of POV-Ray and the POV-Ray community does. By asking for
> something in return for your contribution, you're partially destroying that
> spirit. Just like the rest of us, you learned a lot from this community and
> from your use of POV-Ray over the years, and, most likely, you wouldn't have
> been able to write those include files if it weren't for the fact that the
> creators of the program let anyone use it for free, for any purpose. The
> compensation we *all* get for contributing to the program is the
> contributions of others. That, plus the fact that when someone else uses
> your work, it makes you feel good. That's why I'm working on my little patch
> right now; not in the hope of making a few bucks, but in the hope that
> someone else will use it and think it's cool.
> 
> So, I think that's the best argument I can propose. I don't feel comfortable
> using your particle system since it puts a restriction on me that if,
> sometime in the future, I'm making an image for some commercial software,
> and I reuse some of my old POV-Ray code that makes use of your particle
> system, I'll have to resolve that issue.
> 
> It really is excellent. Just keep it free. =)

You summed up my thoughts very well, plus I agree with Gilles and Remco.
It is almost like a slap in the face of the entire POV-Ray community and
came quite unexpectedly. It sets a new precedence and a possible turning
point in the way the include files are distributed and used. Kinda sad,
really.

Maybe I should place restrictions on the use of my links collection. If I were
to charge a nominal fee for every link accessed it would really help supplement
my meager income. Do you think anyone would mind?

-- 
Ken Tyler

Post a reply to this message