Roy Schestowitz wrote:
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Microsoft emails Blender
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| Microsoft has just approached the Blender guys, and I would assume have or
| will approach other FOSS projects since we learn that Microsoft has assigned
| a guy to work with Open Source projects, with a request for information on
| how to make Blender run better on Windows.
|
| [...]
|
| Get it? They view everything as a battle. "All Open Source innovation" means
| to him, I gather, that Windows runs the applications so well, the GNU/Linux
| operating system dies off. Who needs it? That's how they think, because they
| don't grasp any purpose to freedom for the code or for the end user. If you
| do, please watch out. The OOXML saga stands as a perfect example of how
| Microsoft plays to win, by hook or by crook. It is a "standard" that only
| Microsoft can fully use. That's not openness to me.
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http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080511115151164
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_%28software%29
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Blender is a 3D animation program released as free software. It can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications. Blender is available for several operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, IRIX, Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD with unofficial ports for BeOS, SkyOS, AmigaOS, MorphOS and Pocket PC. Blender has a robust feature set similar in scope and depth to other high-end 3D software such as Softimage|XSI, Cinema 4D, 3ds Max, Lightwave and Maya. These features include advanced simulation tools such as rigid body, fluid, and softbody dynamics, modifier based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node based material and compositing system and Python for embedded scripting.
Blender is now an open source program being actively developed under the supervision of the Blender Foundation.[3]
The Blender Foundation initially reserved the right to use dual licensing, so that, in addition to GNU GPL, Blender would have been available also under the "Blender License", which did not require disclosing source code but required payments to the Blender Foundation. However, this option was never exercised and was suspended indefinitely in 2005.[4] Currently, Blender is solely available under GNU GPL.
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Contrary to the author of this Groklaw piece, I think we have to
remember how important cross-platform apps (above all OpenOffice and
Firefox) have been to Linux adoption. The pattern is usually adoption
of cross-platform apps followed by Linux adoption.
The Linux-specific effort going into those apps is small relative to the
total effort going into them. So Linux benefits greatly from the larger
effort that wouldn't happen without Windows compatibility.
Cross-platform commercial apps will be important to Linux adoption for
the same reasons.
This option for dual licensing of Blender seems troubling. If Blender
were to be subsidized so that any free competitors were to fall into
disuse and disrepair, and later the option for dual licensing were to be
invoked, Blender's use in commercial projects could be impeded, and
those commercial projects might be without a free alternative. That
seems somewhat similar to the situation with Qt development having been
taken over by Nokia.
It appears to me that one important way to make Blender thrive may be
for the Blender Foundation to permanently swear off dual licensing so
that the FOSS community could get behind it without qualms.
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