Re: The TG source release

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002, Roland wrote:

> Well, I'm happy that the Rewind project will have a company support and I 
> wish it all the best. De facto we will now be able to compare the X11 tree 
> to the LGPL tree to some extent at least. Yet I do wonder: would they have 
> released all that code if the license change didn't occur? Sometimes I have 
> the impression that the LGPL fork did have a big influence in TG taking 
> that decision. The reason is obvious: now that the main tree has switched 
> to LGPL, the only hope for TG to continue profiting from public work is to 
> have a good X11 tree. This means they will do all that is possible to 
> nurture that tree. Before the switch, things where easier: there was only 
> the X11 tree and TG didn't have to bother much, so they tended to release 
> the minimum possible amount of code. That's the way I see the facts, please 
> correct me if I'm wrong.

Sounds accurate to me.  Seems like Transgaming found themselves between a 
rock and a hard place, and decided that releasing this code was the best 
solution, even if it further reduces the already-insufficient motivation 
for people to subscribe to their service.

Of course, they also seem to be trying to switch to a new business model, 
and I doubt these facts are unrelated...

Deven