There's always the option of providing additional value in a paid version over a free version.

this very thing as happened already a few times
companies offering a app for free on there site but charged for it on ovi store, word quickly got around and they quickly got stoned for it, not long after though it became free on ovi too.
maybe they was trying to recoup publishing fee before making it free who knows

Why would that be arguable? I don't follow, sorry.

My repeated question is whether (and how) the two can coexist. Yes, sure, they can on paper, but how do you prevent the (pretty strong) OSS coder side of the community from killing commercial Ovi apps by replicating functionality in OSS projects, or, on the flip side, how do you prevent a strong Ovi from strangling Extras (if the commercial store model becomes dominant, you get a 'why develop OSS when you could be earning money with the same app' mentality). 'Fire and Water' or 'Iron and Carbon' ?

That's not necessarily a bad thing though - free software isn't just about price, and if the Ovi store prices are similar to a lot of the iPhone app store ones (i.e. a pound or so) people might be prepared to use it as a means of donating to small developers.

One thing's for sure though - I'm not going to be paying for proprietary software in the store; it just doesn't have the same value as free software.

Actually I think there is a side to this story that you guys may have overlooked, which is that the n900 is being bought up by the average consumer, and offered for very little on many carriers, especially in europe.

This isn't going to be the same demographic as the N8xx devices. I'm guessing 90% of people who buy this device aren't going to have a clue what compiling source even is, let alone where to find open source apps.

They don't need to look that hard. Most OSS apps are in Extras which is on the N900 literally one checkbox away from the users.

Erm, because there's not a link right to Maemo Select right on the desktop?

I don't have a device so I don't know that. Additionally, I don't feel that it's clear that Maemo Select is different from Ovi Store.

I've been hanging around for a while now and I didn't know the difference.

So in conclusion we've established that you can either release an app for $$ in the Ovi Store, or you can release an app for free in Extras, but you can never change your mind once it's been done, because making a paid app free is going to piss nokia off, and making a free app paid is going to fail because the source is already out there.


Sounds awesome, where do I sign?

Nowadays only companies with a VAT number can publish in Ovi. If I recall correctly the 50€ is a one time registration as publisher. Then you can publish as many apps as you wish. In such context the fee isn't an issue.

The combination of Ovi store and free / open source software is worth exploring and has many untested waters.

Worth exploring because Ovi will be marketed to regular consumers that in some cases will be exposed to software freedom in mobile for the first time.

Worth exploring to put in competition side by side community and commercial software, under the same terms and quality standards.

Worth exploring because Ovi comes with a payment framework that can be potentially presented as a donation framework.

But then...

How to deal with the VAT requirement when most community software is developed without anything resembling remotely a Ltd company? Is a company acting as proxy something to be considered?

Since free / open source software can be redistributed by anybody will you be happy if a company is redistributing your software in Ovi without asking you? What if they are asking for a price? Will someone be able to come up with the same app, but for free?

Also, what about dependencies? The store concept works well for cases when you have one package and all the dependencies are satisfied by the official libraries pre-installed in the device and available in the SDK. But what about an 47Kb Python app pulling all the Python dependencies? And pulling from where? The Ovi store doesn't have a setting like Extras nowadays.

I don't foresee big problems in practice, but as you see there are many combinations unexplored. What do you think, is it worth trying something?

Tero and me are looking into this these days. Any input is welcome and now is a good time to discuss. Even to brainstorm.