[wp-hackers] Premium plugin protection

[Andy Charrington-Wilden]

Ok that's interesting. 

What is your opinion on things like shopp? You can't deny they provide an excellent product and while for the most part it is free you will still have to pay for certain (very useful) features. Are they wrong?

What is your opinion on charging clients for development then? Surely charging for a plugin/service is simply paying back the initial investment of time that was put in to it? And covers the ongoing provision of service and maintenance. Is it not the same thing? Surely you would not give code away due it being for an open source platform?

I am not saying these are my opinions really. I am undecided. I'm interested in knowing the general consensus on premium plugins. It doesn't seem to be something that's discussed much and there certainly isn't a lot online about premium plugin development. 

Sent from my iPhone

On 12 Dec 2010, at 00:35, Michael Torbert <mrtorbert at gmail.com> wrote:

> Having code on a remote server just for the purpose of locking it away
> in order to charge is against the ideals of open source, and
> WordPress. It's also frowned on by .org and you may find your plugin
> removed if you do such a thing.
> 
> Having a plugin that is a client interface to access a server/hosted
> service (like Akismet) is just fine.
> 
> -----------
> 
> *I agree. Selling support is certainly a great way of doing it.
> 
> I had considered having key code on a remote server but wondered if
> that went against the 'ethos' of wordpress as a community?
> 
> Do you think profiting (or trying to) by utilising the wordpress
> platform is immoral or wrong in anyway? Not in terms of being paid to
> develop or design for wordpress. But in the sense that we can build
> something on top of the platform that we then charge for?*
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