Xaralx progress!

[jbus]

Remi, the BIGGEST problem is with companies that clearly are benefiting from Open Source software but never giving back to the open source community. Be it contributions to the code or monetary donations, there is a severe lack thereof.

For example, companies that use open source software like LAMP severs (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl and Python) to run their corporate websites/intranet. These companies clearly benefit from open source development and should return the favor to the projects that they benefit from. Unfortunately this doesn't happen often enough. If it did, more open source projects would have the funding to pay some full time developers and progress more quickly. There are some exceptions though. One really good example is Google. Google is built on Open Source technology and does a great job of returning the favor back to the community through, both financial support and code contributions and even legal support. If more companies were like Google, the Open Source community would be ecstatic.

Another issue is the likelihood that some commercial software is illegally using code from open source projects. The proprietary barrier shields this from coming to light in most cases. These are the worst type of offenders. It's fine to use open source code in your projects, but you MUST abide by the license. Which in most cases, unless it's a BSD type license, you mush share your changes with the community.

[remi]

I agree with you: shame on them.

As long as not all players play by someone's rules, it's a unfair game.

Remi

[remi]

See also our other threads, in order to learn something about the problems with Xara LX as an Open Source project:

• Xara LX updated?
• Linux version up to date?
• Update and news from Charles Moir

Regards,
Remi

[Tarabaz]

Hi,

i hope you can understand, what i like to say, because English is not my nativ language (I'm from Germany, if you like to know).

I agree with you: shame on them.

As long as not all players play by someone's rules, it's a unfair game.

I understand your point of view. You see a Company that have created a great kind of Software to make money with it. Thats ok. You also see that this Company like to share a big part of this software with the community, and thats a great Idea. This Company is worry about the posibillity, that they can't make money with their work in the future, if they give every part of this work free. It's ok.

But this is only the perspektiv from the Companies point of view!

Open source developners also like to share their work, but thei like to make their work free aviable for everyone. An yes, thats also ok. But if this Developners wort, for free, on xara xtreme, thei can't be shure that their work ist free aviable for everyone.

But it's not free for Windows users

But, as example, a future version of Linux can break the usability of the closed source component. Only the company have the control if they fix it or not. But companies and Managers can change.

You say, shame about them, because:
- They don't like to work on a Software for free, thats partly cloused Source

- They dont't like to work on a Software, that don't match their point of view what free software is.

- They don't like to work for free on this Software, cause the free linux edition, with his Work can be unuseble, if the company someday lost the interesst in a community edition.

- Under this conditions, they are not willing to work for free to make xara xtreme better, cause of the risk that, in some time, his free work is only aviable in a commercial, closed source product, and they have get no mony for it.

Opens Source developners are not the sklaves of a company. Many examples show, that a cooperation between a company and the community can be a win win situation. but only under conditions, that both sides can apply.

For example, open office is totaly free, but sun can make money with staroffice, it works.

The idea from xara was good, but you can't really think, that somewone have to work on xara for free, if the conditions don't match theire interrests.

Somewhere on this forum i read, some time ago, that the open source modell isn't fair. I think, thats wrong. Many Open Source Developners have get a Job, cause a Company like theire Work. Many of this Companies pay for Open Source Developners, cause they use theire software and like to help with money, to make this software better.

Open Source ist not better or lesser than closed source software. But the idea is a very different. Thats like "Share" against "Get". Both is ok, and in both systems many People can live from their work.

I hope you Guys can understand both sides, than we all can learn something for the future

Tarabaz

[remi]

Hi Tarabaz,

I'm glad that you found the time to study the threads about Xara LX as an Open Source project. Unfortunately you get something wrong:

You say, shame about them, because:
- ... [wrong conclusions]

I said "shame on them" in regards to jbus post #30, in which he complained about companies who don't spend a Cent to Open Source projects. So, shame on these profiteers.

But in order to come back to reality: I don't believe, that very much companies are spending money. Maybe some big companies like IBM, in order to get a marketing advantage. Getting money from other companies or users is more the "hope" of the Open Source developers, but not the reality. Instead, a lot of my customers are using tons of Open Source Software (Apache Webserver, MySQL database, Mozilla Firefox, ...) and never spend money to them.

Have you spent some Cents? How much? And to which Open Source project?

Somewhere on this forum i read, some time ago, that the open source modell isn't fair. I think, thats wrong. Many Open Source Developners have get a Job, cause a Company like theire Work. Many of this Companies pay for Open Source Developners, cause they use theire software and like to help with money, to make this software better.

This was being said in this thread in my post #25. And I've said that the current Open Source reality (in german: "die derzeitige Open Source-Wirklichkeit") is more unfair, than fair from the view of the developers. That's not the same as saying that the Open Source model is unfair by itself. The Companies who are trying to use this Model and change it into their own commercial benefit are the one, who are changing Open Source into a unfair reality ("It's Robin Hood backwards" - see also post #29).

Remi

[kmalsom]

I would really like to see people working on xaralx again. I've financially supported a few OSS projects and even bought a copy of Xara Xtreme Pro to help support the linux version. I'm really disappointed that all development on it has pretty much stopped, but I can understand it from a company perspective.

[trondhuso]

I actually wouldn't mind to pay for software on the Linux system.
For me this is not about getting everything for free and see that you can get just as good programs for free.

My reason for moving from the other OS to Linux was all about getting a stable OS, and hopefully in the future buying the software that I used to use under the other OS.

I also hope that development of Xara pics up.

Another idea could be to change the name and leave the Linux-version to the community (allowing forks and what not). It will either live or not live, but then it is all up to the community to keep the development alive.

T