An anonymous reader wrote:
“It appears that TransGaming’s new website is up,
including the keystone to its new open source business:
subscription services. TransGaming hopes to get many Linux users
subscribing for $5 a month.Basically the only way for TransGaming (who write WineX – a DirectX
enabled version of WINE deisgned specially for games) to survive
(from what I can see, anyway) is through their subscription
service. By subscribing, users have a direct input in what
TransGaming work on next, for example they can vote to put more
emphasis on new games or speeding up current games, etc.
Subscribers also get access to binaries and a huge support forum.
Looks pretty cool to me, so go subscribe.”
On this same topic, there’s an interview at GameSpy with Gavriel
State, TransGaming’s CEO:
“The source code for our product is freely available on
SourceForge under the Aladdin Free public License. This is a
license originally created for the GhostScript project that
restricts commercial redistribution of the code, but allows end
users to see and play with it. TransGaming will be providing binary
packages only to users who are subscribed to our support and voting
service. Others may provide binary packages non commercially, but
they will not be official releases, and we will not be providing
any support for them.Once we have reached our subscriber goals, we will be releasing
the WineX code under the much more liberal Wine license, and we
will continue releasing code that way if our subscription numbers
meet our targets. Thus, by subscribing, our users not only get the
features and services they want to see right now, but they also
help to establish the commercial viability of the Street Performer
Protocol, which will have profound implications for the future of
the entire information economy.The Street Performer Protocol is a fascinating new economic idea
for dealing with the central dilemma of information goods: treat
them as an ongoing performance work, rather than an out-and-out
product. Stephen King has experimented with it recently with an
on-line novel. We feel that the Linux community is a perfect market
to start with in the software world.”