[Bf-committers] extension clause

[john grant]

I just wanted to thank those that are trying to help Blender be used in the 
mainstream.  The community seems to resist fundamental changes that could 
promote the use of Blender in the mainstream.  A recent poll shows that 50% or 
so of the community are hobbyists with only a few years experience.  I can see 
how hobbyists will not recognize the benefit that can be added by a community 
with a vested interest in Blender development.  However, I think it is somewhat 
destructive if professionals using Blender do not recognize the benefit from 
commercial participation.  I think fear is the root, but I'm not sure what the 
fear is founded on.

I'm a developer at a very small company (not in Silicon Valley).  We use open 
source tools and SDKs.  I have provided answers in the community forums, 
provided patches for bug fixes and feature improvements to the OSS projects.  My 
participation in their communities is only possible because a layman's read of 
their licenses is enough to know that my company can not be harmed by using the 
OSS.  It's a win-win situation for these projects and my company.  I had hoped 
to continue this working model with the Blender community.  Because there is no 
protection for companies that want to extend Blender, I can not recommend we use 
Blender in our work processes.  Since we can not develop tools that integrate 
with Blender, we have been forced to integrate with Autodesk tools.  Our clients 
are familiar with the Autodesk tools and are happy about our choice.  The 
Blender community has lost a chance to introduce itself to our clients.  It is 
unfortunate in my eyes.  If this is the situation that the Blender community is 
promoting, I'm sure another project will eventually appear and fill the demand 
that Blender is ignoring.  An OSS project with a goal to support a professional 
community will surely do well.






________________________________
From: Damir Prebeg <blend.factory at gmail.com>
To: bf-blender developers <bf-committers at blender.org>
Sent: Sun, November 14, 2010 11:47:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Bf-committers] extension clause

> Sorry, but I think this is quite short sighted.
>
> If people could easily build closed source extensions to blender, it would
> not benefit blender itself, but it WOULD benefit the blender community.

Nothing stops those big companies to create closed source plug-ins for
Blender but a pure capitalistic way of thinking: they simply don't see a
true market in Blender community that would return them their investment
along with a huge profit.

And It looks like some of you are missing one thing: Blender IS Blender
community. Without that community Blender would probably just be a long time
forgotten abandonware. And Blender community members are not just Blender
users, but also Blender developers that are sharing their hard work.
You are actually saying that it would be a good thing that some wise guy can
simply take a portion of that hard work and incorporate it in his closed
source and claim it as his own. How's that benefits the community and in the
end to that guy that has actually created that code?
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