I got pissed last night as I was upgrading Perl on my Windows machine. Half way into the install it asks me if I want to use PPM3, warning me that I need to register with ASPN to use the features. Only when I drilled down the links did I discover that it costs around $500.
I can understand their need to make a buck, but don’t mess with the Perl installer. It’s free and there should be no question that it is. Asking for half a grand half way through a Perl install is just plain wrong. It wouldn’t be that hard for someone new to Perl to think that in order for it to work, you have to register with them.
I can also see Activestate dropping support for the free PPM2 and forcing people to use the fee based PPM3. This is exactly what they did with the free version of Komodo.
Charging for Perl applications is fine, that’s fine, but keep it away from the Perl installer, that’s all I’m saying. (EDITORIAL: I’ve been a big fan of Activestate for a long time. Their MS installer first got me into Perl oh those many years ago.)