Good day all,
It has recently come to light that there is a forum post in French where people / persons are expressing their unhappiness that SD Field Concat is now a commercial extension when it used to be free.
Here is my 2 cents worth:
I have taken 3 years of my SEBLOD knowledge and experience and bundled it into a plugin that was initially for me, but it soon became apparent that this plugin was immensely useful for all members of the community. The more people downloaded it, the more requests came in to add 'x' and 'y' to the plugin. And so I did, slowly making the plugin what it is today.
Eventually, with the downloads if SD Field Concat in the tens of thousands, I started to receive a LOT of support queries, for the plugin and for SEBLOD in general. After investing hours of my time to make the plugin what it is today, I decided I would add a DONATE button in the plugin settings screen.
With 1000's of people using SD Field Concat, would you guess how many donated to keep development active? Three. Yes, THREE.
I completely hear the argument that users of SEBLOD 2.x must now pay to use the same plugin after they migrate to SEBLOD 3.x but here's my questions to those people:
You're using this plugin because it's useful and it serves a purpose for your web application, correct?
Are you using my plugin(s) in a web application that you are being paid to create?
Does your web application depend on my plugin to get the functionality you want?
If you answer yes to any of the above questions, why do I not deserve some type of renumeration for my efforts and work?
I have given countless hours of support and advise to 1000's of people with regards to my plugins and SEBLOD in general. It is only fair that I receive something in return, don't you think?
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Google Apps used to be free for a basic account for many years. In December 2012 Google revoked the free account option, and now you pay a premium fee to use their service. Companies grow, people grow, business grow and time shrinks. Support those who are producing indispensable products for the betterment of YOUR work.
Regards,
Simon Dowdles - SD Plugins Author