I don't think this will fly but I'll put it out there anyway. PCL and PJSR development is serious business. PCL development in general has a high barrier to entry. I think only Carlos and I have delivered PCL code outside the Pteam. Starting PCL programming takes a considerable investment in time and right now there's no payoff. Minor payments such as those done by Astro Photo Insight for articles don't come close to being true compensation for effort but it's a 'nice to have' for sure.
So here are some options:
- module store ala app store. Doesn't have to be integrated into PI, a web page would be fine. Module and script writers submit their code to Juan and set a price. Juan can choose to take a cut (ala app store). This is especially reasonable in the case of PCL modules as he'd have to provide the multi platform build infrastructure. Price can be set to '0' or 'donate'. PCL would need some sort of license feature added that ties a downloaded module to a PI license. App store does not have to be run by Pleiades as long as a build infrastructure is available.
- Juan starts paying for PCL and PJSR submissions. Negotiations are up to the author. Further options are an upfront licensing fee good 'forever' with negotiable mainentance and feature update fees.
- private licensing. Individual module authors can institute their own license keys. This results in lots of repetition so I don't think this is advisable but clearly every module author can decide to do this.
Anyway, I think the lure of 'fame and glory' only goes so far. At some point people want to see some acknowledgement that others value their work and are willing to pay for it. With such an optional system in place I think more people will attempt to develop for PI.
Have at it
So here are some options:
- module store ala app store. Doesn't have to be integrated into PI, a web page would be fine. Module and script writers submit their code to Juan and set a price. Juan can choose to take a cut (ala app store). This is especially reasonable in the case of PCL modules as he'd have to provide the multi platform build infrastructure. Price can be set to '0' or 'donate'. PCL would need some sort of license feature added that ties a downloaded module to a PI license. App store does not have to be run by Pleiades as long as a build infrastructure is available.
- Juan starts paying for PCL and PJSR submissions. Negotiations are up to the author. Further options are an upfront licensing fee good 'forever' with negotiable mainentance and feature update fees.
- private licensing. Individual module authors can institute their own license keys. This results in lots of repetition so I don't think this is advisable but clearly every module author can decide to do this.
Anyway, I think the lure of 'fame and glory' only goes so far. At some point people want to see some acknowledgement that others value their work and are willing to pay for it. With such an optional system in place I think more people will attempt to develop for PI.
Have at it