[quote=181613:@Sascha S]Hi Matthew,
please don’t give your plugin away for free. I understand that there can be indifferences between people in our forum, but to annoy the other by creating a product in direct competition and thuen start a price war and finally give away your product for free,harms the developer community.
Your grounds to support developers instead of charging them, does not sound sincere. If you were serious about that, you would give away all your plugins for free and you would NOT start a product in direct competition to another developer.
Please think it over you again. Please get in direct contact with Michel and agree identical prices. So we developers can make a decision based on the performance of your Plugins and confidence in the developer.
Thank you.[/quote]
Actually, ElastiControls has 2+ years invested in (in the Xojo language) it from being integrated directly into the XTeTiC framework and was placed up for sale almost a full week before any mention appeared in the Xojo forums of a RubberView control.
As promised back in September 2014 for spring 2015, since XTeTiC itself (formerly SimScript Plugin Designer) was to be open source once released, developers herein the Xojo community have requested that all contents (permitted) within the XTeTiC framework be independently separated and released since the framework as a whole is quite complex, and some parts may not be needed by developers, only forcing a compiled executable to be larger than necessary with the un-used parts included. By request of developers, since the framework was intended to be open source, yet did not get released to the public as requested by Xojo Inc. (due to the extensive control over an application the framework gives a developer), I must honor the other promises and commitments made. This is why it is not being ‘given away,’ rather upon an honor system, will be asking developers to donate whatever they feel is appropriate. This allows hobbyist to learn from the code, true full-time developers to “only pay for something” if it’s actually making them a profit, and for bugs and customizations to more readily be made available, not having to wait for myself nor XDS members to alter and release new code.
As has been an issue in the past (still holding true today), regardless of however dedicated a developer is, people always remain unhappy if instant gratification is not readily available. Until something is presented and exists, it merely remains empty promises otherwise; and if it doesn’t function 100% the way it is expected 100% of the time, it becomes broken promises. How many threads are from angry developers because custom control/classes and plugin developers don’t ever follow through on their intended promises, or to the extent expected, or never fix the bugs and issues with the products they provide (too many to count). Even if the developers actually get around to fixing the issues, the fix isn’t ready when it is needed, when it is expected. Thus the protection clause in the Xojo EULA; "IN NO EVENT WILL XOJO, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, EVEN IF WE HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE POTENTIAL LOSS OR DAMAGE. By default this tells you that, “we know bugs might exist, and they might cost you money, but we’ll get to it when we get to it; IF we get around to it,” and you are responsible thereafter.
By closing the source itself, help cannot be obtained from other developers within the Xojo community, which stifles the development and progression/evolution of the code. Xojo itself is littered with developers complaining about bugs that have existed more than a decade within the Xojo framework itself, yet to be fixed. As you read, how many bugs have you yourself requested to be fixed, only to still be waiting? I personally know if I’m paying for something, I want it to do exactly what I want it to do, when I want it to do it, without waiting for someone else to make it work; and if I have to fix the issue myself, I may desire consultation from other developers in some cases. There is more power and knowledge in numbers, than individuals alone.
ElastiControls was released alomst a full week publicly before any mention of similar products within the Xojo forums were ever announced (see the news article at XDS about release). Apologies for my inability to foretell future events. I intend to merely uphold my promises made, since Xojo community members have asked that they still hold true, even though the full XTeTiC framework is not being released (as per Xojo, Inc. request). The case and argument presented by Xojo developers is that, “if ElastiControls is part of the original XTeTiC framework, and the framework was meant to be open source, then why are you charging for it?” Which is a valid case, and thus my decision to move to a “donate what you feel it’s worth, so that other advancements may be presented to developers through XDS.”
After reviewing the RubberView product, and noting intense plagerisms within the product description (as reported by innumerable developers) and also being contacted by numerous reputable developers whom were led to ElastiControls by derogatory remarks found at the RV site (without prior knowledge of ElastiControls), only to find ElastiControls met their needs beyond expectations, I invoke a “cease-fire” by honoring the wishes of the developers, and the initial promises made in 2014 which held true to the XTeTiC (formerly SimScript Plugin Designer) framework. There is no advance in oppression, nor suppression. I understand your concern, but should I have not taken up my most recent contract, which drew my attention away from the Xojo community for 3 months (as happens once a year, every-year), ElastiControls would have been released in January, when it should have been initially. Through open discussion and the knowledge of many, the desktop and web version of ElastiControls can advance faster, and more efficiently (if even necessary), than if I alone continue the development (as was intended for the XTeTiC framework as a whole).
I have laid a solid foundation, from which to build upon. There can be no competition when developers merely ask that a promise be upheld, even though the entirety of the original framework itself is not being released (per Xojo Inc.). XTeTiC itself allows a single unified coding capability (using the Xojo language), which, with the same code, can be loaded by both desktop and web edition pages, yielding the appropriate controls and proper events without copy-pasting and altering from PushButton to WebButton, etc. (One set of code to rule them all). It also permits the requested auto-layout (via ElastiControls classes), and dynamic GUI and code creation/execution at runtime, far beyond what XojoScript permits (without identifying contexts before compilation). All other code in the XDS Store, is not, nor has not been part of the XTeTiC framework, and therefore has no obligation to align with the promises made for the XTeTiC framework. XTeTiC and it’s sub-components were first to market with no intention of competition, nor prior knowledge of competition. It was one of the first components separated from XTeTiC after the announcement that Elastic Windows was up for sale, at which time I also contacted the author about that move; to avoid competition and conflict. You may buy and purchase as you see fit, but this decision has been made based upon honoring a promise and commitment made to Xojo developers, long in the making.
As for spelling errors… it happens, we’re all human. Honestly didn’t recognize any until re-reading. First time through, guess my eyes fixed the errors involuntarily
I hope you can respect honoring a promise that I’ve been asked to keep.
@Peter - Glad to have you back in the Xojo community! Kindness is kindness returned, I will honor the promises made.