Why are commercial components allowed?

[pc]

Hi,

Can I ask why are you also listing commercial extensions?
I find it a bit extrange that the heart of the OS software opens and embraces commercial software.

Anyway just wanted to know and I hope you are charging for the listing because they charge users that buy their products.

Regards,
PC

[Tonie]

Commercial CMT's are allowed to give people a choice. We want to give people a place where they can find the functionality they need, all together under one roof. Also notice that a lot of developers of commercial CMT's are active members of the community and provide knowledge.

[Asphyx]

Not to mention some of these products are actually worth paying for!
I tried every form system I could...
I wound up buying Phil Taylors product cause it did what I needed...

[TheSaint]

There are some great commercial components for Joomla. Mosets Tree, Joomres, SW Menu Pro and many others come to mind. Many commercial developers also offer 'lite' versions of their software, plenty of demos and great support. The quality and time they spend on making these programs wouldn't be possible if they didn't charge at least a little something for their efforts.

If they can make a living producing quality software then so be it. A lot of open source projects have sluggish development because these people can't dedicate their lives to making components and sometimes the quality suffers. A mixture of well-run open source and commercial projects is beneficial to everyone. Nobody forces you to purchase the paid packages, but at the very least it is still promoting the Joomla core and bringing more users into the fold. This can only be seen as a good thing. Sorry I got a little long winded!

[Vimes]

Well, here's my story:

I started out a few days over a year ago working on a component called Mosres. In the beginning it was supposed to be for a client who was running his hotel on paper, but as is often the case the client never came back to me and I released the component to the Community to play with.

There's absolutely no IT work in this area of the world (unless you want to develop websites, and I don't) so I was able to fill my days by developing Mosres, but a combination of a zillion feature requests and the girlfriend losing her job pushed me to focus 100% on Mosres. Jomres development is now a full time job.

If it wasn't for the Core Team of Joomla, and the faith of my clients, I'd literally be shovelling manure on some farm (not a bad thing, I did it in my younger days), but I'm not, and to all of them I'm very grateful.

I understand where pc is coming from though, it's not such a long time since I was of the same attitude: Open Source is free, Commercial is not and never the twain shall meet, but I now realise that it's applications like Jomres, Mosets Tree and others that prove to the casual user that Joomla is a great Application Framework. It's not just a hobby or toy, but a serious piece of software that deserves to be synonymous with Debian and Apache, and we get it for free!

How lucky can we get?

[Vimes]

Joomres

Muttering: Jomres, jomres, jomres.

Thanks for the complement tho.

[ivo.apostolov]

I agree that there should be commercial products listed, anyway my opinion is that they should be marked in the directory listing as commercial (as the free should also be marked as free).

Now you can see if it commercial or not only if you open the extension details.

This could be placed above the component, module, extension details. This is what I think.

Ivo

[TheSaint]

Vimes,

A thousand apologies for the misspelling. By the way, the privilege of not shoveling manure should be your's when you reach a ripe old age. We respect your right to sit all day at a desk and make quality commercial software. Well done lad.

[gsbe]

The License type is bolded in the bulk listing pages. More comment on this from users is always appreciated.

[manuman]

This has basicaly been said already, but the site is for those building sites with Joomla!.

Those people needed (in our opinion) a place to locate any and all resources that might enhance what they are doing. The inclussion of commercial components is to help the end user who may or may not care if an item is commercial if its the best thing to get the job done.

Cheers
Shayne

[dknight]

The License type is bolded in the bulk listing pages. More comment on this from users is always appreciated.

Adding to graham's post, you might not find all extensions to show the license information because we are hoping the owner will claim the extension and update it accordingly. We can not assume all extensions is listed under GNU/GPL.

You can see an example on the bolded license type for gigCalendar here:

http://extensions.joomla.org/component/ ... Itemid,35/

[unixboymd]

Perhaps a sub-forums... one for commercial another for open source

[eyezberg]

Sublistings/categories wouldn't be that helpfull, if I need a "forms" component for example, I'll first look for a listing of all forms, compare features, check if it has the one I need, and look at the price tag if there is one. I wouldn't want to have to first browse forms/free, find none that has feature xyz I absolutely need, then have to browse forms/commercial to check again.
Just making it obvious in every listing would be enough I think.

[unixboymd]

I personally would. But that's just because I'm a cheap bastard and will search through the free stuff first.

Sublistings/categories wouldn't be that helpfull, if I need a "forms" component for example, I'll first look for a listing of all forms, compare features, check if it has the one I need, and look at the price tag if there is one. I wouldn't want to have to first browse forms/free, find none that has feature xyz I absolutely need, then have to browse forms/commercial to check again.
Just making it obvious in every listing would be enough I think.

[TheSaint]

Agreed, Joe. An icon, different text style or option to filter open source/commercial items in each category would be the best compromise.

[gsbe]

The license is bolded in the listing and I believe that otherwise you draw more attention to it than necessary.

[unixboymd]

Most of the extensions that I've viewed in the past few hours don't include any information about the license type. And believe me, I went through all of them.

The only way you find out if it is commercial, is by visiting the Homepage of the extension.

Perhaps a way to sort them then...

[gsbe]

This is probably because there are very few commercial extensions listed in the directory. If you find one in error, please report the extension and we will gladly modify the license information.

[sijo]

I think this listing is a great help.  I only came across Joomla a couple of months ago and now really enjoy working with it (despite some of the headaches as I am not a coder).

One of the most frustrating things was trying to find the extensions - so this listing is a great idea - well done guys.

I have no problem with listing both free and commercial components but I feel their would be a benefit to having a direct link to a demo.

It is nice having a feature list but rather than having to download a component only to find that it is not exactly what is required is time wasting - if I could just click a link from the extensions site and go to the project/developers demo then this would be great.

[ot2sen]

I have no problem with listing both free and commercial components but I feel their would be a benefit to having a direct link to a demo.

It is nice having a feature list but rather than having to download a component only to find that it is not exactly what is required is time wasting - if I could just click a link from the extensions site and go to the project/developers demo then this would be great.

Hi sijo,

If the developer provide a link to a demo, then it will show up on the detailed view of the listing.
Example: http://extensions.joomla.org/component/ ... Itemid,35/

[wood_flower]

The listing is very useful, especially for Joomla newbie. I love it.

However, the listing will better if developers can update their listed product`s download link.

[PhilTaylor-Prazgod]

The listing is very useful, especially for Joomla newbie. I love it.

However, the listing will better if developers can update their listed product`s download link.

They can !

[seneca]

Why are commercial components allowed?

Well, Free Software can be develeped for money, and why shouldn't good work getting paid.

The notion of Free Software vs. commercial Software is dead wrong. It's Free Software vs. proprietary Software, the latter limiting choices for its users. (You know that you're stuck with proprietary software if you are not allowed to use, learn, modify, or distribute your Software. No matter how many times the programming/support work has already been paid for.)

Why allowing proprietary Software?
Why not? It leaves you the choice and is a matter of fair competition. It's the proprietry world that wants to rule out competition and Free Software with patent monopolies.

Well, o.k., mentioning proprietary "Software Products" on extensions.joomla.org might be seen as some advertising for non-free proprietary stuff on community sites. How harmfull or helpfull to developers or users can it be, though?

[manuman]

The listing is very useful, especially for Joomla newbie. I love it.

However, the listing will better if developers can update their listed product`s download link.

As mentioned by Phil you can...

• Register on the site.
• Go to the extension in question and claim it.
• You'll then get the ability to modify/manage that listing.

For better instructions read the "Using this Site" manual ... http://extensions.joomla.org/content/view/15/63/

[wood_flower]

The listing is very useful, especially for Joomla newbie. I love it.

However, the listing will better if developers can update their listed product`s download link.

They can !

Thank you for your information.

I must forgot something at the Extensions site. I will go here to update the download link of my Instant Search module right now 

[Asphyx]

My last two cents on this subject,

While I understand the arguments made to keep commercial offerring seperate
(After all J! was formed in defense of Open Source principles)

We have to put aside that noble thought in regards to this extensions site...
the purpose of it is to help users running Joomla by giving them an easy to browse location where they can find extentions they need in a project they are doing.

Where we can support OS is by advising users which OS project will give them the same features when a commercial project is available. I have found in many cases the commercial product is better because the developer dedicates more time to it.

the extensions site promotes open source by showing people how many extensions and add ons are available for the J! open source project!

It's purpose is to make Joomla easier to use and to promote how well supported Joomla is...
In this example the site is promoting OS by showing how well supported, versatile and easy it is to use an Open Source CMS..

And if you ask me that is way more important to promoting Open Source than limiting the options users can see to only FREE products!

It's a noble argument being made by the FREE side...
But the purpose of the site is to support Joomla! not specifically Open Source! Joomla itself does that!

[paulmark]

And if you ask me that is way more important to promoting Open Source than limiting the options users can see to only FREE products!

Wholeheartedly agree.  The philisophical issue of 'os' is ..... OPEN.  As soon as we limit the extensions to 'free' we are 'CS' ....closed source.

As a joomla biggot, I want access to all the joomla extensions - free and commercial.  The free community will always have my support ...but if a dev has worked hard to produce a valuable extension that solves my business issue...I gladly pay  (and have!).

PMark

[gsbe]

This is a "practice what we preach" issue. We want EVERYONE using and developing for Joomla! to be successful.

All Extensions are welcome that meet the Extension Directory Rules.

[Asphyx]

In another way it might actually help create some OS projects...
Someone who wants to do a task but can only find a pay version for it might actually be inspired to start a free project to take up the lack of an OS option...

[stefangranholm]

I agree that there should be commercial products listed, anyway my opinion is that they should be marked in the directory listing as commercial (as the free should also be marked as free).

Now you can see if it commercial or not only if you open the extension details.

This could be placed above the component, module, extension details. This is what I think.

Ivo

I agree. Like download.com, you can select "free" and you wount see the software that costs money.