Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

As a part-time app developer, I've released a handful of open-source apps to the Maemo Extras repository. But recently, I've been expanding my efforts to other operating systems, and toying with the idea of releasing some commercial, closed-source apps.

While I am fine with the idea of releasing apps open-source, there are just some situations where you cannot operate an app for free. (Case in point, there are no free sources of weather data, so to create a weather app you need to pay someone a regular, ongoing fee.) So, are there any methods left in the Maemo world for distributing an app that requires some form of payment?

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

maybe there are better options but matters most is payment system ex opera store maybe board can try.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

This is a good question, especially in light of Nokia Store closing down.

I don't think there are alternatives for commercial distribution of maemo/meego applications at the moment.

Maybe we can investigate how OpenPandora and other niche-y opensource platforms handle their commercial apps, and see if there are reapplications for the maemo/meego platform.

Also, Symbian AppList (sort of an analog to OpenRepos) has commercial applications. However, I believe those are still linked to Nokia Store for the purposes of payment.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Activation codes! ;)

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I took a look at them, but I'm pretty sure none of the major app stores (even the Opera store, now that it is taking over for Nokia) will offer Maemo-compatible repositories. :(

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Hmm. I've always been a fan of Spiderweb Software, which has managed to distribute its games for years now via the "activation code" method. Might be something to try...

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Well, I've been to make the thread for months. So I'll hijack yours :)

Maemo lacks some quality software [1]. A great idea would be to community-found its development, just as it was in the times of MCC.

Or maybe OpenRepos could finally give us a platform for commercial apps?

/edit: cross-posted, creating a new discussion here [2]

[1] http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...60#post1453560
[2] http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...4&goto=newpost

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

QuasarMX [1][2]is available to users in three versions: Lite, Pro and Pro beta/pre-release. The first level is free with restricted functionality, whilst the latter versions require a payment on the author's website via Paypal.

The Lite version can be found on OpenRepos, while paid versions can be downloaded from the author's servers (authentication is required to access).

I'm not sure what Jolla's intentions to paid software is, if they have nothing concrete, maybe it would be worth approaching them with a proposal for a cross-platform store. If they're not interested, then maybe OpenRepos as others have mentioned. Aaron Seigo and others worked on an open sourced software store called Bodega [3],[4] as part of the doomed Vivaldi project, this could find use here.

[1] http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=81318
[2] https://www.meteorasoftworks.com/quasarmx/buy/
[3] http://aseigo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10...ticipants.html
[4] http://quickgit.kde.org/?p=bodega-server.git

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Is it possible to get each user to register as "developer" and use his own key? Then, due to low number of calls from each "developer-user" to API, each key will be free-of-charge - developer has to pay only when number of calls to API becomes too large.

It may be absurd, because it gives the weather-provider email-and-such of each user. Hence, if you prefer to use a key provided by other person (aka developer of the app), be prepared to pay to the developer as the developer will have to pay to weather-provider for huge number of calls to API going through him.

Thank you. Best wishes.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Loved the Geneforge series! It's pity that it isn't BOTH activation-codes based AND open-sourced (not necessarily GPL), as I would love to have N900 port ;)

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Actually, they are slowly releasing their older titles under an open source license (e.g., the Blades of Exile game). So there might be some hope. (Although they are also trying to re-release some of their older titles in a form that works on tablets, so there's hopefully still some commercial potential left in their collection.)

And yeah, I still have to finish the last entry of the Geneforge series myself. :) I just haven't had the time lately...

(Hmm. How would an open-source activation-code-based application work?)

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Even the GPL doesn't deny actually selling your application - as long as you provide GPL'ed source code to every purchaser. So, in case of GPL, it's not much different than any other paid program - you sell it, and hope that people respect you and buy it, instead of getting "pirated" copy.

The only difference here would be that you hope that users respect you and buy it, instead of compiling from source posted "somewhere", released by prior purchaser.

IMO, compiling from source require (nowadays) even ma little more effort than downloading "pirated", "cracked" version and running it, so I would say GPL'ed payware is even better for distributor. Especially, considering the "target" Maemo user-base - I guess that 99,99% people here would preffer to support and respect developer like you and buy your piece of code, than get it from 3th hand.

/Estel

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Hmm. You know, that really does kind of make sense to me. Perhaps I will give that a shot!

So, next question -- are there any restrictions on entering open-source apps into the Maemo Extras repository that are explicitly "commercial" in nature? I would imagine that an activation-code on an open source program isn't all that different from a request for donations, but I want to make sure I don't overstep any bounds here...

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I also have my doubts. Take an eaxmple of a library we recently purchased at our company. It is open-source, free for personal use, paid for commercial use. Other than the licence terms, there is no difference between the free and the paid version.

So far so good.

I may be wrong but I think Copernicus was considering a different model. A free version with limitations, unlock full features by buying an activation code. I am not sure how this model would work if anyone could access tbe code and see how it works and how to modify it to bypass the activation.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

The neo900 initiative if successful will provide more units to "feed" with software.

A bounty system might also work for apps identified as needed in the maemo repos.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

This would work if the application is designed in a modular way, so that you could have the basic framework (and some modules) as open source and then you could purchase additional modules that could be closed (and maybe activated with a code)

There is no problem with this as long as the additional modules are compiled so that they contain no GPL'ed code.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I suppose it could also work for targetting the right audience: people without the know-how to inspect and change the code or honest people with such know-how. Dishonest people won't be stopped either way.

If you make your code convoluted enough, you might even say that those who crack it deserve to get the extra features for free :)

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I'm not entirely sure just what I'm thinking right now. What I've got is yet another app like Pierogi, carrying with it a small dense database of info. The source code is simple (and I see no problem with releasing it open-source), but the database is going to take a lot of effort to create and maintain. (And yeah, I don't expect I could live off selling apps to the Maemo community alone. :) I'll also be trying to squeeze this app into the iOS and Android worlds.)

As Estel noted, in today's world it's just about as easy to distribute a "cracked" closed-source app as it is to distribute a modified open-source app, so there's probably no real security advantage to closing certain modules in the app.

So, I can see both having a sample database for people to first play with the app, and an activation code to enable the whole database; or simply an activation code for the whole app. (Or, if nothing else, just the standard request for donations...) In any case, I don't see how I could stop folks from just tinkering with the app to bypass the payment system, so asking folks to act honorably would probably be the best deal...

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

That sounds like a straightworward case. Free open program, paid closed database.
Presumably the database is not GPL so you should not run into any upstream licensing issues.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

For their panel plugin the Xfce project used weather.com in the past, currently uses met.no and plans to switch to openweathermap.org in the future.
I have no idea what sources Gnome and Xbmc/Kodi use, but it seems to me there are enough free sources for weather data out there.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

Not a big deal, but I want to point out that free and quality of forecasts are two, possibly mutually exclusive, criteria.

That's why I love yr.no - it satisfies both, for where I live.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

One way to do this is, do not include the database in the device, instead host it on a server and have the application fetch data from there on demand. If the queries and authentication schemes are well thought out the transferred data can be kept fairy small.
This way you can have access control based on registration for the users :D

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

A nice idea but - unless the "fetch on demand" is a one-off thing - that would be an immediate no-no for me as a customer. I would not want Yet Another Cloud Application™.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

One suggestion would be:
provide the open-source program in the usual way (maemo extras, etc.) and then, on request per e-mail plus payment you reply with an encrypted database that the user must place in a given directory.

You send the password used to encrypt/decrypt[*] to the user per e-mail (to the same e-mail as the one from which the request originated).
[*] Note: the database stays encrypted and is only decrypted in-memory. This prevents casual users from copying the database (but technically adept users will -- if so inclined -- dump the unencrypted database from memory to disk).

If the password is uniquely linked to the e-mail (e.g. password = hash(master password concatenated with e-mail), then at least there is a possibility of tracing a user who distributes the database with the associated password (because you can "reverse" the password by "cracking" it easily: your dictionary will be your list of registered e-mails, which, I hate to break it to you: won't be huge :).

This would at least act as a deterrent for those who might consider "casually" giving a copy of the database to other users.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

There is always the one who deserved it. But normally he distributes and all other just sneak in ...

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I agree with pichlo on this one. I really would like to have everything integrated into the app itself. In fact, this was the original reason I wanted to create Pierogi; I could see no reason why a remote control app should need to download data from the net...

I'm also not sure I've got a good way to distribute data from my own server. :) (If I'm going to give 30% to an app store anyway, I want to go ahead and use them for as much as I can. :) )

Hmm. I do like the idea of somehow providing a method to update the internal database, though. Heck, some sort of "subscription" to receive regular database updates would make sense; my brother has an app with a monthly subscription fee... But they do have a fairly fancy website set up for it. Hmm. I'll have to think some more. :)

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

This of course depends on the application; if the database contains something that changes rapidly over time then you naturally need to be connected to the network to use it.
Examples; a weather display application, facebook, real-time multiuser game, etc.

If the application is selfcontained but can make use of networked resources for additional experience, you'd need to download/upload small amounts of data now and then.
Examples; a game having online highscore table

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

You know, in a previous life (like 20 years ago) I used to crack every (DOS or Windows 16-bit) shareware or dongled-commercial-software that crossed my path. It sort of kept me intellectually awake, so to speak. I never distributed a copy of what I cracked.

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

:D

So you are the ONE who deserves AND doing it the right way!

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I'm not aware of any restrictions on open-sourced programs that are commercial in nature (neither such limitations be logical). Also, there is no problem with uploading CLOSED source programs to repos, in the non-free section.

As for the dillema of how to distribute - I would still say that "encrypting" database or merging closed-source modules with open-source base would be quite pointless, as dishonest people will be able to bypass it (with more or less effort). Having everything open sourced makes it less work for you, with - probably - same results - honest people will pay for it as you request.

/Estel

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I agree, usually it is not worth the effort to do so, I just brought forward some procedures that could be used if so desired.

There's one alternative which I would probably use myself if I'd create an application with cross-platform target;

I'd release the application as open source (of course! I cannot really even imagine ever writing in order not to release as open) but with a license so that the Maemo/Harmattan/SFOS versions would be available without charge, and the iOS/Android/WP versions would be with a commercial license.

This makes sense in multiple ways;

• It promotes the platforms with a smaller user base
• It is a giveback to the community
• There already exists a commercially viable distribution method for the latter OS'es

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

@juiceme, what a brilliantly simple idea!

Re: Commercial Apps on Maemo
 

I kinda like this idea too. With asymetric encryption you could even devise a system whereby multiple different keys could be used to decrypt it. With a system clever enough, you might even find out which key was used to decrypt it if it ever escapes to the wild.