@dave r said:
@simon le bon said:
But I think that before the idea of driving people to pay, Trimble team should roll up their sleeves and work for free, and show us what they are capable of such feats they earn our respect. Then we can actually revisit.
simonlebon
So Simon, I wonder if you would be willing to do your job without pay. You ask that of the SketchUp team. You must be willing to do the same.
It seems logical and fair to argue that nobody should work for free, but what Simon is raising I believe is still valid. (I give benefit of the doubt to the not complete command of English)
The question is not whether one's willing to work without pay, but a matter of what really is and will be the mutual agreement.
Sketchup was provided for free with some limitations (not used for commercial work), in exchange the community created models (warehouse) and scripts mostly for free too. It also contributed to widen the use (to applications and uses the author may not have thought about) and spread the reputation and potential. It was a mutually beneficial agreement to enhance the user base, creativity and contribution to the core software. That was beneficial to the free version, but also to the pro version and that was understood and accepted by all parties.
People that developed for sale scripts also benefited from the installed based of users (free and pro) to sell their scripts. And I didn't see anyone (from Google) denouncing the unfairness of that situation.
So the question really is whether that somewhat tacit agreement has been fundamentally unilaterally modified, or even worse as I suspect, is planned to be modified but without being forthcoming or clear about it so as not to lose the benefit gained from the counter party (free scripts and model, forums, user base) as long as the illusion that their tacit agreement has not been altered can be maintained.
For Trimble to make SU a full commercial software is fine. They own it, they can run the business model they want with it. But to do so while attempting to keep the goodwill generated based on the free version of it is quite different.
They're smart, I don't believe they will do so abruptly. So first there will be enhancement only to the pro version, free will remain (or being reduced). Then eventually free may not work and only paid stuff will be available and useful. Great strategy.
If Trimble is to argue that they cannot, or are not willing to do any work that is not followed by monetization of such, then so be it, but it could be clearly stated and then so it could be for all involved.
It will be up to each of us to decide whether we accept the new situation or agreement, but what could be expected is for it to be clear and not look like some kind of political discourse:
- No worries we will not change anything and will continue even more to support the free version (translation: please stay on board and continue creating and contributing and improving)
- Well nobody works without pay (fallacy as that was never the case) so we expect to be paid for what we do (always was, just with a different model)
- New version and development is to be paid for, but you can still benefit from all the stuff we didn't pay for because we kept a "free" version.
The question has never been whether the SU team is willing to work for free, for as I firmly believe they always have been paid, I'm not aware that they are volunteers and they shouldn't be. It's just that the business model for the product included a free version to monetize the product in a different manner.
Trimble can change that, but fairness would then be to pay all developpers of free scripts and warehouse models something too for the acquired benefit. These people have indeed "worked for free" to create the value in what Trimble HAS now. Value in user base, potential clients, impact, existing IPs and so on. So indeed "nobody should work for free".
The least they could do is clarify the situation so that everyone knows exactly what will happen from now on and what to expect if they volunteer their time to contribute to the software and its community: - Will they get a real benefit in return? (like free updates)
- Will they get an opportunity for being paid (through sales or otherwise) for their effort?
- Will they just contribute and only get charged in return (with new software for sale only)?
That would be nice, but I understand why it's not in Trimble's interest, and that is precisely what makes me (and I suspect others) cautious.
That would be nice, but it's neither in Trimble's interest nor duty to keep us, contributors, aware or guarantor of our own interest. Caveat emptor!
