[PIGMI] ExEn: Cross platform Xna on RocketHub

[Dan Venkitachalam]

It's quite different to the Blender situation.  Blender had been free but
closed source.  The company owning the Blender source went bankrupt, the CEO
negotiated a price for the source code through creditors.  The community
then raised the funds to buy the rights to the codebase.

This is funding someone to write new code with a pledge to open it when
done.  I have mixed feelings since the original project developers do not
appear to be involved.  Maybe the patches are substantial, but its hard to
gauge quality without seeing the source.

All the best luck to Andrew.  I just hope the other contributors get some
kind of compensation for their work too.


Dan.

On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 7:06 AM, Aranda Morrison <
aranda_morrison at yahoo.com.au> wrote:

> Hey Chris,
>
> > > Apparently a similar  thing was done with Blender.
>
> > Whoa, I did not know about this. I just Googled around and it seems like
> you
> > are referring to GameKit?
>
> I was just referring to something I'd read in his blog post (
> http://andrewrussell.net/2011/01/answering-some-concerns-about-exen/), I'm
> not sure about it's correctness though:
>
> "(The open-source release of the 3D modelling software Blender<http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-foundation/history/>
>  is an example of software that has successfully used the same approach to
> go open source.)"
>
> > Basically, I think crowd-sourced funding is a great way to advance a
> project
> > like this.
>
> I have a similar sentiment, but at the same time I can't help feel like he
> should just release it and let the community contribute straight away. But
> then I think that this is maybe just a selfish thing on my part (show me the
> code now damnit!). I suppose If he can use the funding to work full time on
> it for a few months the outcome will be better for all of us.
>
> Cheers,
> Aranda
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Chris McCormick <chris at mccormick.cx>
> *To:* pigmi at pigmi.org
> *Sent:* Tue, 25 January, 2011 1:38:31 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [PIGMI] ExEn: Cross platform Xna on RocketHub
>
> Hi Aranda,
>
> On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 05:28:46AM -0800, Aranda Morrison wrote:
> > Those interested in Xna may have already heard, but Andrew Russell has
> decided
> > to try to get crowd funding to progress his implementation before going
> Open
> > Source with it. He copped a bit of flak for forking two other libraries
> > (XnaTouch and Silversprite) then trying to get money for it, but he
> argues that
> > he has made massive changes (improvements) and submitting patches of this
>
> > magnitude is not feasible. I've given XnaTouch a try and I can say with
> > certainty that there is much room for improvement. Find out more at the
> > RocketHub
> > page:
> http://rockethub.com/projects/752-exen-xna-for-iphone-android-and-silverlightand
> >  on his blog: http://andrewrussell.net/.
>
> This is super cool, thanks for sharing.
>
> > Apparently a similar  thing was done with Blender.
>
> Whoa, I did not know about this. I just Googled around and it seems like
> you
> are referring to GameKit?
>
> <http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=155310>
>
> > This is just a heads up really but I'd be interested to know peoples
> thoughts on
> > this approach to building an open source project.
>
> I don't think there is anything wrong with asking for money for working on
> Free
> Software projects. In fact, Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software
> movement and probably the most zealous guy of all, doesn't think there is
> anything wrong with even charging for binaries as long as the source is
> available freely. The Free Software movement is not supposed to be about
> money
> at all, it's about the freedome to share code, and to get the code for the
> apps
> you run so that you can modify them. It's about taking power away from
> individual programmers and giving it to the collective and most importantly
> the
> users.
>
> Basically, I think crowd-sourced funding is a great way to advance a
> project
> like this.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris.
>
> -------------------
> http://mccormick.cx
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