FairEmail is a privacy oriented email app on fdroid which uses donation to activate pro features. €0.10 to activate one time and €7.50 for unlimited future devices. I think it’s a pretty fair deal. https://email.faircode.eu/donate/
It’s a fair deal, but the point is it’s not a donation. You can purchase pro features, and that’s great. But it’s not a donation if you get a product in return, that’s just a purchase.
Not if it has all the essential features, it has no 3rd party ads, tracking and is a privacy focused mail client.
I only bought i because i could test it for months and saw everything works and it being updated and well maintained, it’s kinda pricey for a mail client.
There are for sure nagging experiences in other programs, Fairmail is not one of them.
But honestly i don’t really see what’s wrong. There’s a base donation for the price of the software but it just give the option to support the dev if you want…
I mean most things that rely on donation like that are just cheap indie software (I think voicemeeter was $5)
I’d take that over the awful and greedy subscriptions that cost an arm like adobe or Microsoft.
OCCT doesn’t require you to purchase it for personal use (although you will get a 10sec timer before you can start a benchmark/stability test), which is why i think it doesn’t count as “donationware”
It’s free software. You can charge money for distribution of free software but if the user does then he has the right to have acces to the source code forever no restrictions. And that user is free to distribute copies of the software as he wishes.
You can charge money for distribution of free software
That copy is Paidware.
but if the user does then he has the right to have acces to the source code forever no restrictions
No. FOSS licenses provide protections/rights over the source code to the user regardless if that user paid for it/a pre-compiled binary or not.
Even in a scenario where the source is restricted-access FOSS the license still grants those protections without exception. Moreover a restricted-access FOSS model goes against the very nature of FOSS, even if it’s not explicitly forbidden by the license. This kind of model is typically referred to as commercial open-source software (COSS).
This approach is essentially commercial proprietary software but they messed up by picking the wrong license.
You can change for software distribution (binaries).Directly from gpl site…:
Does the GPL allow me to sell copies of the program for money? (#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney)
Yes, the GPL allows everyone to do this. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what price you can charge. (The one exception is the required written offer to provide source code that must accompany binary-only release.)
Does the GPL allow me to charge a fee for downloading the program from my distribution site? (#DoesTheGPLAllowDownloadFee)
Yes. You can charge any fee you wish for distributing a copy of the program. Under GPLv2, if you distribute binaries by download, you must provide “equivalent access” to download the source—therefore, the fee to download source may not be greater than the fee to download the binary. If the binaries being distributed are licensed under the GPLv3, then you must offer equivalent access to the source code in the same way through the same place at no further charge.
Please speak with a lawyer.
That specific sold binary copy is by definition paidware regardless of source code distribution as there’s a paywall preventing you from accessing that specific distribution of that specific copy.
As for the rest :
Directly from same gpl site. Does the GPL allow me to require that anyone who receives the software must pay me a fee and/or notify me? (#DoesTheGPLAllowRequireFee)
No. In fact, a requirement like that would make the program nonfree. If people have to pay when they get a copy of a program, or if they have to notify anyone in particular, then the program is not free. See the definition of free software.
The GPL is a free software license, and therefore it permits people to use and even redistribute the software without being required to pay anyone a fee for doing so.
You can charge people a fee to get a copy from you. You can’t require people to pay you when they get a copy from someone else.
If I distribute GPLed software for a fee, am I required to also make it available to the public without a charge? (#DoesTheGPLRequireAvailabilityToPublic)
No. However, if someone pays your fee and gets a copy, the GPL gives them the freedom to release it to the public, with or without a fee. For example, someone could pay your fee, and then put her copy on a web site for the general public.
Does the GPL allow me to distribute copies under a nondisclosure agreement? (#DoesTheGPLAllowNDA)
No. The GPL says that anyone who receives a copy from you has the right to redistribute copies, modified or not. You are not allowed to distribute the work on any more restrictive basis.
If someone asks you to sign an NDA for receiving GPL-covered software copyrighted by the FSF, please inform us immediately by writing to [email protected].
If the violation involves GPL-covered code that has some other copyright holder, please inform that copyright holder, just as you would for any other kind of violation of the GPL.
That’s the same I’m saying. What you quoted just says that you can charge for distributing free software but you cannot force other holders of the software to distribute it asking for a charge.
You as a distributor can charge for what you distribute, that’s it. And it has been done with a lot of free software, like with Linux. That’s why basically Linus changed his License from explicitly free in money to only free as in freedom.
The thing is that free software allows to have a paywall if the distributor wants it. Which has a lot of sense. But does not allow to enforce it to other distributors.
Richard Stallman distributed GNU tools by a price. HIS distribution of GNU tools. At the same time you can also get the GNU tools from idk Debian mirrors (for free).
Free software isn’t free as in money. That’s the whole point. The adoption of Open Source by the “cool” companies (Google, Facebook, Apple, etc.) has tainted the original meaning of free software.
Did you even read my first reply?
It wasn’t about wether or not you can charge. It was about the protections always being granted to the user regardless if they paid the fee. A user could “steal” a copy without paying a fee and still be able to legally distribute it, you wouldn’t even be able to press charges for “theft” because the license grants rights regardless of the means it was accessed.
Also it’s FOSS, not “free software”, they’re not the same thing. Free software could be any software that doesn’t cost money, FOSS is Free(-dom) Open Source Software.
Any real-life example of anyone doing this?
FairEmail is a privacy oriented email app on fdroid which uses donation to activate pro features. €0.10 to activate one time and €7.50 for unlimited future devices. I think it’s a pretty fair deal.
https://email.faircode.eu/donate/
It’s a fair deal, but the point is it’s not a donation. You can purchase pro features, and that’s great. But it’s not a donation if you get a product in return, that’s just a purchase.
And op asked for real life examples and that is what this person is answering to
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You can use it for free, you just need to donate to get rid of the banner and to get all features.
The bare functionality is in fact free
I’m not disputing that. I’m just finding it silly to call purchases donations.
That’s not a donation, that’s just a purchase
Not if it has all the essential features, it has no 3rd party ads, tracking and is a privacy focused mail client.
I only bought i because i could test it for months and saw everything works and it being updated and well maintained, it’s kinda pricey for a mail client.
There are for sure nagging experiences in other programs, Fairmail is not one of them.
You’re paying them for something. That’s a purchase, not a donation.
Voicemeeter did that too.
But honestly i don’t really see what’s wrong. There’s a base donation for the price of the software but it just give the option to support the dev if you want…
I mean most things that rely on donation like that are just cheap indie software (I think voicemeeter was $5)
I’d take that over the awful and greedy subscriptions that cost an arm like adobe or Microsoft.
afwall+
Screenskraper but they have to pay server costs so it makes sense.
OCCT for some fucking reason, where it doesn’t.
OCCT doesn’t require you to purchase it for personal use (although you will get a 10sec timer before you can start a benchmark/stability test), which is why i think it doesn’t count as “donationware”
Maybe nagware would be a better label. Like winrar.
I think FreeFileSync does make some additional features available when you donate, which I don’t think would otherwise be available.
https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#donation-edition
Parted Magic
Maybe it’s regional, but the webpage doesn’t say anything about a donation. It uses language like “store,” “purchase” and “subscription.”
It’s free software. You can charge money for distribution of free software but if the user does then he has the right to have acces to the source code forever no restrictions. And that user is free to distribute copies of the software as he wishes.
That copy is Paidware.
No. FOSS licenses provide protections/rights over the source code to the user regardless if that user paid for it/a pre-compiled binary or not.
Even in a scenario where the source is
restricted-access FOSSthe license still grants those protections without exception. Moreover a restricted-access FOSS model goes against the very nature of FOSS, even if it’s not explicitly forbidden by the license. This kind of model is typically referred to as commercial open-source software (COSS).This approach is essentially commercial proprietary software but they messed up by picking the wrong license.
You can change for software distribution (binaries).Directly from gpl site…:
Does the GPL allow me to sell copies of the program for money? (#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney)
Yes, the GPL allows everyone to do this. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what price you can charge. (The one exception is the required written offer to provide source code that must accompany binary-only release.)
Does the GPL allow me to charge a fee for downloading the program from my distribution site? (#DoesTheGPLAllowDownloadFee)
Yes. You can charge any fee you wish for distributing a copy of the program. Under GPLv2, if you distribute binaries by download, you must provide “equivalent access” to download the source—therefore, the fee to download source may not be greater than the fee to download the binary. If the binaries being distributed are licensed under the GPLv3, then you must offer equivalent access to the source code in the same way through the same place at no further charge.
Please speak with a lawyer.
That specific sold binary copy is by definition paidware regardless of source code distribution as there’s a paywall preventing you from accessing that specific distribution of that specific copy.
As for the rest :
Directly from same gpl site.
Does the GPL allow me to require that anyone who receives the software must pay me a fee and/or notify me? (#DoesTheGPLAllowRequireFee)
No. In fact, a requirement like that would make the program nonfree. If people have to pay when they get a copy of a program, or if they have to notify anyone in particular, then the program is not free. See the definition of free software.
The GPL is a free software license, and therefore it permits people to use and even redistribute the software without being required to pay anyone a fee for doing so.
You can charge people a fee to get a copy from you. You can’t require people to pay you when they get a copy from someone else.
If I distribute GPLed software for a fee, am I required to also make it available to the public without a charge? (#DoesTheGPLRequireAvailabilityToPublic)
No. However, if someone pays your fee and gets a copy, the GPL gives them the freedom to release it to the public, with or without a fee. For example, someone could pay your fee, and then put her copy on a web site for the general public.
Does the GPL allow me to distribute copies under a nondisclosure agreement? (#DoesTheGPLAllowNDA)
No. The GPL says that anyone who receives a copy from you has the right to redistribute copies, modified or not. You are not allowed to distribute the work on any more restrictive basis.
If someone asks you to sign an NDA for receiving GPL-covered software copyrighted by the FSF, please inform us immediately by writing to [email protected].
If the violation involves GPL-covered code that has some other copyright holder, please inform that copyright holder, just as you would for any other kind of violation of the GPL.
That’s the same I’m saying. What you quoted just says that you can charge for distributing free software but you cannot force other holders of the software to distribute it asking for a charge.
You as a distributor can charge for what you distribute, that’s it. And it has been done with a lot of free software, like with Linux. That’s why basically Linus changed his License from explicitly free in money to only free as in freedom.
The thing is that free software allows to have a paywall if the distributor wants it. Which has a lot of sense. But does not allow to enforce it to other distributors.
Richard Stallman distributed GNU tools by a price. HIS distribution of GNU tools. At the same time you can also get the GNU tools from idk Debian mirrors (for free).
Free software isn’t free as in money. That’s the whole point. The adoption of Open Source by the “cool” companies (Google, Facebook, Apple, etc.) has tainted the original meaning of free software.
Did you even read my first reply?
It wasn’t about wether or not you can charge. It was about the protections always being granted to the user regardless if they paid the fee. A user could “steal” a copy without paying a fee and still be able to legally distribute it, you wouldn’t even be able to press charges for “theft” because the license grants rights regardless of the means it was accessed.
Also it’s FOSS, not “free software”, they’re not the same thing. Free software could be any software that doesn’t cost money, FOSS is Free(-dom) Open Source Software.
GPL is free (or libre) software. FOSS is a modern term adopted by companies.
So would that mean that torrenting parted magic is legal?
Yes? You can also torrent your favourite Linux distros. Torrenting is not illegal; distributing pirated content is
My bad, got it mixed up with gPartEd
If the source code is free software you are free to share it if you have a copy of it.
Not sure if it would count. But https://fritzing.org/download/ Went to pay it or ?compile it yourself? with version 1.0.
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Mynoise.com allows you to do a 1 time donation of 1$ to unlock all the sounds. You then just need the email you donated with.
So… Freemium/Paidware.