I’m new to this site and enjoyed it’s contrent very much. I’ve bought the WOW Factor already and the content is premium stuff, good work.

Sites like this cost time and money to run and if they can offer premium content that I can use then I’m willing to pay for it. I’ll need plenty of bonuses to go with it of course just for insentive purposes.

Open Source Software Fuels the 3D Web Revolution – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piht3oqHYDU

I believe that both Commercal and OpenSource are needed, its a kind of dualism. Each drive each other forward. Creativity, Innovation and Knowledge are the main goals to aim for. But for me, when I create a piece of artwork I don’t want to have to buy the latest version of 3D MAX or MAYA to open up the file so I can edit it. So OpenSource is the way to go for 3D artists that need to keep control over their work.

I had been wanting some advice on this, as I was considering getting Cinima 4D since everyone says its so easy to use.

With the Open source vs Commercial software. There have been studies on the Total Cost of Ownership for equivalent products (Eg. Blender vs Max, Linux vs Windows), and the critical difference is that Commercial Software has less of a training cost (or learning curve), when compared with Open Source solutions. BUT much OS Software has woful training, support, documentation and the like. Commercial Software tends to be more driven, as you stated, but OS grows organically based on the needs of those in the community.

There is this DYI mentality that you should do it yourself (rebuilding the wheel and so forth), but there are problems with this. It has lead to a fractured OS community, with many forks, and not the building up of effective solutions.

In the end, I do not want to focus my energy on searching and testing out new software, or writing a solution from scratch. I just want to create.

If you’re lucky enough to find a website like this one that doesn’t charge you for the benefits it gives you…well…you lucked out. My fear is that the ungrateful people will get so loud and so piously insistent that folks like Andrew will just throw up their hands in frustration and call it quits.

You firstly make the assumption that there is always a choice, often users cannot afford commercial. Sure they can afford a computer, but numerous 30-50 dollars mounts up, especially when you find the software is crap, or doesn’t do exactly what you want.

Secondly some of the best software in the world is open Source. Blender, Linux, PHP MySQL Apache and on and on and on.

Buggy as hell with frustratingly bad support, Mmm? Microsoft Windows methinks Oh and if you change your MB you have to buy it again ???

Education, I have purchased a number of books, so have no problem there, but they have to represent value.

I think the problem you had with the WF, is that you just pitched the price a bit high (no pun intended ) Your PDF tut, while undoubtedly superb as most of your work is, had less content than a book half the cost.

Anyway, keep up the good work Andrew, I guess you deserve a good rant now and then

I just finished reading over the GPL and there’s no way to restrict a paying customer from distributing the product in any way they see fit.

From the FAQ:
“If I know someone has a copy of a GPL-covered program, can I demand he give me a copy?

No. The GPL gives him permission to make and redistribute copies of the program if he chooses to do so. He also has the right not to redistribute the program, if that is what he chooses.”

If I release the game I’m developing under GPL or a compatible license one guy may spend the $5 on it, but then he can give copies to his friends for free or even put it on his website for download. Zealots who believe that commercial software shouldn’t exist can use that to pretty much drive a developer out of business.

From the article “Selling Free Software:”
“Actually, we encourage people who redistribute free software to charge as much as they wish or can. If this seems surprising to you, please read on.”

Note the RE on redistribute. Some guy who pays $5 for my game could turn around, put it on his site, and charge $10 for it. Naturally people would pay the lower price if they knew about it, but if the guy redistributing it for $10 can build more of a web presence the $5 copy will be hard to find, and none of that $10 goes to the developer.

We actually had that happen with Blender. What the guy did was legal under the terms of the GPL, but there was an outcry from the community mostly because a guy was profiting off of software that he had no part in the development of.

If it’s out there for free then that game could end up on 300 machines while the developer only gets the revenue from one copy. That amounts to selling it for 1 2/3¢ per copy.

Now I’ll admit most of the software I use is open source. I use Blender for models, The Gimp for textures, Ogre for rendering, OIS for input, Bullet for physics, and I’m thinking of going with Open AL if I don’t go with Direct Sound.

However, I also intend to charge for my products. The zealots may see this in the same light as walking into a Baptist church during services and conducting an infant sacrifice, but I don’t intend to live in my truck and any revenues from the game will get me the gas money to get out and look for work.

The question is, why mess with a license that says you can sell your software, but if someone puts it up for free download or sells it themselves you just have to take the hit?

That’s like getting a work from home job in data entry, at best not getting paid because someone provided the exact same data for free, at worst someone else getting the check because you emailed the data from their computer.

People shouldn’t be hating too much for low price education and stuff like that … I mean c’mon just like you’ve said. In the time you struggle to get it working, you could have finished the job for your client and you paid 50€ for the software, but you also get 150€ from the client.