Wow. There’s something I never imagined I would write – “StrategyOnline goes Open Source”.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
I’m not a fan of the Open Source concept. I build software for a living, and in my world there’s a direct correlation between skill and remuneration.
Or at least there should be.
So, extending that reasoning, “Open Source” is simply a more tactful way of saying “Nobody would be prepared to actually pay money for this”. Several flavours of Linux jump to mind.
There are a handful of exceptions though, like WordPress. And… Um… Hmm. There probably are others, but nothing else jumps to mind right now.
But I digress…
Over the past couple of years StrategyOnline has changed focus. 95% of our business used to be building code libraries and objects for other Clarion programmers, but over the years that number has gradually decreased. Today, less than 2% of our revenue comes from the Clarion 3rdParty market, but it still takes a fair amount of time to maintain all of that code.
Which brings me to today’s announcement…
Over the coming weeks, we will gradually be releasing a significant amount of our Clarion 3rdParty code as Open Source, under the MIT license.
Over 70% of our business is still based on or around the Clarion language, and we have no intention of leaving the Clarion world in the forseeable future.
Almost all of our 3rdParty code was built because we needed it ourselves, and we will continue to develop that code for our own use, and will release these updates to the Clarion community at no cost.
We will still be open to taking on customization, implementation, support and training, but these will be paid for services.
By releasing our 3rdParty code to the Clarion community, other talented developers will also have the opportunity to make improvements and to enhance our products, as they see fit.
We’re still figuring out exactly how the code will be released and managed. Due to the nature of some of our commercial software, we cannot compromise on the quality and integrity of our underlying objects, so quality control is something that needs to be worked out very carefully.
I’ll release more information in due course.
Wow Gary!
As you say there “I never thought I would say this one day”.
It seems from your past year or two that indeed this is the best
solution for the community (and you also of course).
MERCI for all you have and are doing for us all.
Thank you JP, sincerely appreciated.
Hi Gary,
Are you talking about FREEWARE products instead of using Open Source terms??
All Clarion 3rdParty ***templates*** is Open Source! Even original SV templates.
I meant TEMPLATE files (not clw/inc or dll/lib)
Gennadi.
Hi Gennadi,
Thank you for the question. Clarion code is not Open Source. Open Source is not simply code that you have access to, it’s code that you have access to (for free), and are entitled (legally) to modify, and distribute to others (within the parameters of the Open Source license).
There are various Open Source licenses commonly in use, we’re probably going to use the MIT license. I’ll post more information about the implications of this in due course.
Sincerely,
Gary.
The Clarion community is too small to sustain 3rd Party development.
You have make the right move.
Thanks.
Kelvin Chua
SINGAPORE
Hi Kelvin,
Thank you. I believe this is the right move for us, because over the years our focus had shifted as a company, and Clarion 3rdParty development is no longer our core business (or even a major portion of our business).
There are companies still making decent money (I assume) from 3rdParty development, such as CapeSoft, but I think the number of companies able to survive in this space, if this is all they’re doing, has decreased dramatically.
For us it really is simply a case of our priorities having shifted, and we want to be able to focus our attention and resources more effectively.
Gary,
Except – if I did not misunderstand what Bruce explained – I do not think his main revenues (or sufficient sales) come from template sales (but I may be wrong).
I myself have the chance with DMC to be fully “open world” as the tool is NOT clarion specific and this indeed allows for a MUCH MUCH wider market than the dying Clarion community.
(I know we all have heard since decades “clarion is dying” – I said the “community is dying” and NOT the language because of the directions SV took for clarion since a couple of years and because of the way SV “treats” their clients – but this is OT here )
I am sure you did a good choice for you and this results in a “better community spirit”.
Merci (again)
JP
Thanks Jean-Pierre,
I hear what you’re saying. I still firmly believe that Clarion (as a language) will go from strength to strength. I’m not convinced about Clarion.NET yet, but I wasn’t convinced about the new IDE until a couple of months ago, so maybe I’ll come round.
Clarion is changing. The programming landscape is changing. We’re now building software for multiple platforms on multiple devices.
I think in order to survive, we have to start thinking bigger than Clarion, bigger than Windows.
I miss my Commodore 64 more and more
.
Hi Gary,
Yep I think you’re probably doing the right thing best of luck with it.
Interesting logo
Graham.
Thanks Graham, much appreciated! Logo and artwork is courtesy of Heike, who joined us a couple of months ago (http://www.strategyonline.co.za/blog/2011/12/heike-von-horsten/).
She’s adding a lot of funk to the group
>> There are a handful of exceptions though, like WordPress. And… Um… Hmm. There probably are others, but nothing else jumps to mind right now.
Zlib. LibPng. VLC. VNC. Chrome. FireFox. jQuery. jQuery plugins. Linux kernel. gcc. These are just the ones I use everyday. There’s no shortage of very good Open Source stuff.
Hi Bruce,
Good list, agreed. But how many of those projects are funded by large corporations who also sell software, which generates the revenue that then enables them to pay developers to build Open Source code?
G.
That is good news, and a step in the right direction for you.
Hopefully more people will have the software on hand, use it and help the community out with the support that is really needed.
Best Regards..
Roberto