[theme-reviewers] GPL and limiting usage

[Trent Lapinski]

Selling people a WordPress theme is selling them a tool to build a website with.

How would you feel if you went to Home Depot and were told you can't buy the hammer you need to build a bird house, you instead have to join Home Depots "subscription" to get access to the hammer you need to build a bird house, but you're only allowed to build 1 bird house with that hammer. If you want to build more then 1 bird house you have to pay signficnatly more money monthly to do so.

If you finishing building your bird house and stop paying they will take your hammer away, and also lock you out of features from the birdhouse you already built and paid for.

That's what PageLines is doing, and thats why this is against the GPL, WordPress.org Policy, and morally and ethically wrong.

This has nothing to do with upgrade fees, support, or anything else. That has to do with limiting and crippling software that customers have already paid for and forcing them to continue to pay for something or else they lose access to the tools they need to maintain or update their website in the future.

This is not a support service, but merely a clever way to lock users in forever.

--Trent Lapinski
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CEO of CyberChimps Inc

On Oct 9, 2013, at 3:00 PM, Bryan Hadaway <bhadaway at gmail.com> wrote:

> Whatever the case, I feel we're actually getting much closer to all being at least in the same book, maybe not quite the same page yet. But, much closer to a reasonable and productive understanding/conclusion.
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