Re (tilly) 3: Certification Foo

Which of the following scenarios do you prefer?

ActiveState tries to find money-making off of something that is available for free, which they contribute to.
ActiveState tries to find ways to make money off of things that are not free, and only contributes to those.
ActiveState goes out of business.

There are, of course, many theoretically possible options which are missing from this list. But these are the most plausible options. And given these choices, I like the first best because it results in the most free stuff for me. YMMV.

Comment on Re (tilly) 3: Certification Foo

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Re: Re (tilly) 3: Certification Foo by ignatz (Vicar) on Jan 25, 2002 at 21:31 UTC
Many Many years ago Activestate was the group that made it possible for me to get Perl on my little windows compooter. I love them for that. I even love the fact that they are working with Microsoft on the whole .ASP and Visual Studio thing. That's all good. BUT... (Excuse the long rant) ...don't mess with the Perl installer. There's nowhere that it says that I have to pay for ASPN when I see the link in the install. Only by drilling down on some web page does it show you the c.$500 pricetag. How many clueless newbies will see that and go, "Oh shoot! I have to pay for Perl?" When I see an installer that asks for registration and takes me to a page to get a key after I pay them I bail. There should be NO confusion that Perl is FREE. Totally FREE. They are messing with that. How long before PPM2 isn't offered and the only way I can use it is with ASPN? They have already done that with Komodo. DOHH!!! Just got used to it? Now you have to pay. Sorry Charlie. I love activestate's involvement with the community, but don't abuse it. That's all I'm saying.	[reply]
Re^5: Certification Foo by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Jan 26, 2002 at 00:05 UTC
Building commercial success on free software is a minefield.. for both sides. I think in the long run business models will have to shift away from selling software for it to work. I have no idea exactly how.. but someone will figure out something that works gracefully, I'm sure. Unless of course, the DMCA and cousins have made writing free software in itself a mine field by then.. Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply]