LSLEditor

Take a look:

http://www.lsleditor.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=123

Shhhh don't tell Judy Linden. I'm sure she would have a voice in any LL M&A (merger and acquisition) activity, and $30K for LSL editor is dirt cheap. The only reason for LL NOT to buy it is the ongoing maintenance committment, and perhaps they could just hire Alphons to do that full-time.


Well, perhaps mentioning it on her thread would actually do Alphons a favor, sigh. But I would hate to see LSL Editor bog down in LL's development cycle.
.

Just a really sad thing for me to see. I do understand all of the literally thousands of hours of work that Alphonse put into it. There is nothing that matches it's power for the simplicity it has for new scripters. But there is soooo much more that can be done with it. Scite is open source and with it we can create udf's and their definitions and do includes, plugins and much, much more. But of course there is a steeper learning curve with it or the other programs available. For me, both Scite and lslint are indispensible and using LSLEditor as a plugin for Scite is just a convenience. It is really discouraging to see 2 of those 3 stop being supported, lslint and LSLEditor have not been updated in months.

They are both a product of love and sweat by their creators, but it just seems that if you are going to get tired of it and walk away that you would release the source so that it can continue to grow and flourish. I think it is being extremely optimistic thinking that enough people are going to contribute a total of $25 to $30,000 for a program that is already available and even if it does happen it is going to be a long time in the future before we can finally get our hands on the source. I can not even begin to imagine just how far we could get either to evolve if this community of brilliant minds had access. I know how much work I would put into it, heck my Scite doesn't even resemble the released version anymore and I know for a fact that Strife's was heavily modified also.

If LL don't buy it they are crazy.
I don't think I am the only one here that used it to learn LSL, without having to be on-line, and still use it as my main code library. It is also portable development system that I can work on scripts whilst travelling with no internet connection.
Without it I would never have become a scripter, and certainly would not be contributing what I now do to the community and the economy of SL.
My Donation is on the way, but LL need to look at this as an essential service.

I jsut sent him 20 Euros

http://lslplus.sourceforge.net

but I'm biased...

Biased and you quoted me out of context:

"There is nothing that matches it's power for the simplicity it has for new scripters."

lslplus isn't as easy for new scripters. I have tried t and it is nice but I still prefer Scite the way I have it setup.

I must add thou that I think people have misunderstood my mini-rant. I use paid programs on my computer and also some excellent open source programs. The ones that are outstanding like Irfanview I send in a donation. I have contributed to LSLEditor in the past but what is happening is flat out wrong. I read it as the source code is being help hostage for a $30,000 ransom. It is the creators code, fine then never release it and let it die, release it, updaate it and start selling copies of it, anything but the option that has been chosen.

There are so many wonderful contributions that have been created for developers over the years. Look at all of the sculpty creators and clothing viewers and ports made for LSL etc. Look at all of the tutorials that have been made etc. Heck, just look at all of the code we give away as examples. It was suggested that LL should buy this program but this would set a horrible precedent. Yes a lot of time was spent in development but most of the regulars here have spent even more time, at no charge helping people learn. This would be like me saying that I am tired of Second Life and am going to pull all of my scripts and comments out of the forum and libraries and then asking for money to put theem back.

I do see what you mean, Jesse. However, as an unreconstructed capitalist, I can't find it in me to diss folks for trying to get compensation for their work. I very much admire open sourcers who contribute their time and energy gratis. But I consider it a personal decision, whether a person regards their code as a contribution, or an investment, and while I can see why pure open sourcers feel their peers who want money are greedy, I don't. No matter how good you are, coding takes time. I think Alphonse has enabled a lot of growth in SL gratis to date, and if he wants compensation in order for it to continue, more power to him.

Either way, LSL editor has been a very great asset, and if Alphonse can no longer afford the time to maintain it, I hope he enables SOMEONE to. In the "Judy" thread, I suggested LL simply contribute a load of cash and tell him to make it open source. That, I'm sure, would stimulate tools work by other programmers, which would be all to the good.
.

L$30k is dirt cheap. He's talking US$30k.

I'll certainly donate but that's not a trivial amount of money he's looking for.

You could read it that way. You could also read it as he wants to sell the code, and he's giving the open source community a chance to be the buyer.

Or do you think it's simply wrong to sell the rights to any source code?

No I do not believe that it is wrong to sell source code. Actually I was surprised that Alphonse never sold individual copies to begin with and never made a deal out of asking for donations which I personally would have. I pointed out that it is no longer being updated, hence there is little stimulus to get people to donate money for something they already have. The questions is; Do you believe that $25K is going to be contributed and if possible, exactly how long of a time frame?

I personally do not believe the goal will ever be reached and hence any contributions made now will not be for the great work he has already done, but for an end goal which will not happen.

$30K is ~4 months of a senior developer's salary in San Francisco, less time than that for a good contractor. I doubt LL could develop a freecell game in that time, let alone QA it. (not a slam at LL, that's just the way product development IS).

In M&A terms (merger and acquisition), $30K is pocket change. Plus, if I were at LL I would negotiate. I would not spend any time reviewing the code, just take the community's word for it that the product is useful - I would offer him 20K in one lump sum, plus $5K after he's done a code cleanup and final release, and a successful transition to sourceforge or another open source development support site.

But, hey, my advice is free, so perhaps worth what LL is paying for it!
.

That's not the question in my mind, at all, but we obviously disagree somewhere subtle that I can't quite figure out.

I guess I won't move there, then!

I still say L$9,000,000+ is a lot of money. Not that it's a bad program or that I don't appreciate his work or that I won't contribute. Just that that's a big chunk of cash.