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On 14/07/2015 15:51, Axel Grude (Axel) wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:55A52208.8090800@gmail.com" type="cite">
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<blockquote class=" cite"
id="mid_55A51260_8060507_libertytrek_org"
cite="mid:55A51260.8060507@libertytrek.org" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Is there any reason we can't do multiple models?</pre>
</blockquote>
that's what I mean - but design it in a way to have more than 0.05
% adoption rate. That is make a "paid version" so attractive that
it can finance Thunderbird's future.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Perhaps a way to do this would be to set up a separate commercial
company to develop value added additional features or services for
Thunderbird. Hopefully this company could make a profit and then use
the profits to fund open source development of Thunderbird.<br>
<br>
Many successful open source projects have a similar open
source/commercial model. You can use the 'community' version freely
or pay for the commercial version which gets you paid support,
enterprise features, or other 'professional' features.<br>
<br>
But of course, this still means extra costs. The company has to make
a profit first and foremost.<br>
<br>
Would this be acceptable to the Thunderbird community? One would
hope so. I wonder...<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:55A52208.8090800@gmail.com" type="cite"> What
I _don't_ like about Postbox is that it isn't fully open source
and that it is not in sync with the tree. Why can't we have both -
be in sync with m-c</blockquote>
<br>
Why is being in sync important? Surely what counts is that the
software works well, rather than an arbitrary adherence to what is
effectively another project's core code. The more time you spend
playing catchup to their code, the less time you spend developing
your own project.<br>
<br>
Furthermore, it seems to me that Mozilla and Firefox might be moving
in directions that Thunderbird (and perhaps Postbox too) might not
want to follow or might not be able to follow.<br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Mark Rousell
PGP public key: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.signal100.com/markr/pgp">http://www.signal100.com/markr/pgp</a>
Key ID: C9C5C162
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