kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Mário Luzeiro <mrluzeiro@xxxxx>]

Hi Javier,

That is a nice other topic idea for discussion.. I think it is related.
I already point and I agree with last post by Nick: we (kicad software developers) will not be able to handle all that things if it goes that way.. and specialized people in other areas need to be involved in the project.
I think also what you describe is similar to the way that CERN is now involved in the project but this concept and what you describe could be expanded to all other areas.

... one day!

Regards,
Mario Luzeiro
________________________________________
From: Javier Serrano [javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 20 March 2015 16:49
To: Nick Østergaard
Cc: Mário Luzeiro; kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Kicad-developers] Wayne Stambaugh @ FOSDEM15 & everything else...

On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 4:12 PM, Nick Østergaard <oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 2015-03-20 15:19 GMT+01:00 Mário Luzeiro <mrluzeiro@xxxxx>:
>> This type of support and community is what they expect when pay for a commercial product... if something is wrong.. they will ask the company for support..
>> But, this is an issue in the opensource software feeling in general. But I believe some projects are making a good work in give people trust on this matters.
>
> I feel it quite the opposite. For a commercial product it is hard to
> get sane support, while open source projects are very easy.

I see this as a two-dimensional issue. The opposite of free/open is
proprietary. The opposite of commercial is non-commercial. There are
four possible combinations. I think free/open and commercial is a
winning combination. The software stays free-as-in-freedom, and
free-as-in-free-beer for those who want it that way. If, in addition,
we could find a way to reward those who make KiCad such a great tool,
that can only be good. Look at successful free software projects. Most
of them have a way to reward key contributors. Some people get paid
full-time salaries to contribute to the Linux kernel, the Apache web
server and many other projects. I hope KiCad gets there one day. Sorry
for the digression, but I see this commercial-vs-open issue pop up
often and I thought I'd give my view on it.

Cheers,

Javier