I tried emailing IS Tech about this but they don't always respond to emails soon enough to please impatient people like me. Of course, I'm not yet a paying customer so I don't totally blame them.  
 
Anyhow, does Evo and the IS Tech DBA Classic updates come with the TAS source code like DBA does or not? Inquiring minds want to know.

Quote from NovaZyg   on 09/27/06 at 20:20:44:

 
 
Umm... May I ask why not? All of DBA comes with the source code on CD. Now you are telling me that your additions and changes DON'T come with the corresponding source code? How, exactly, do you justify that?

I see where you are going with that... That I'm complaining but yet they've got no requirement to provide the source according to my license. Yes, I'm sure that's true. But it's still a great shame because now the source code I have from standard DBA is worthless if I upgrade to EVO. It will then be incompatible and not match up with the system I am using.
 
I feel that it's in bad faith to take over a product that is essentially open source and then make a bunch of changes and not release them. They benefited from that open source nature! Were it not for that EVO would probably not exist at all. They took the source code to the old dba and modified it. It was great for them, now they turn around and close up the shop? What gives? Is it against the license? I'll bet not. Is it unethical? You bet.
 
Of course, I'm sure 99% of the userbase doesn't care one way or the other but for us 1% who can program and who would be interested in doing their own mods, this is a major disappointment.

There is no inherent danger in their work being 'stolen' just because they release the source code with their work. No more so, anyway, then there already was. The source to the various modules will still not be of much use without the runtime program (EvoERP.exe) and without a valid license. The only real valid reason for locking up the source is to lockout the competition so you can get more business. If I had the source I could make mods and not have to pay them. That's obviously not what they'd like to see happen. They want to write the mods for me so they can charge me more. So, from a business sense, what they are doing probably makes sense. From an ethical standpoint is is just plain wrong. One should not take something for free and benefit from it and then turn around and lock it up so nobody else can benefit. I'm reminded of the lyrics to a modern song 'We drink from the rivers then we turn around and put up our walls.'
 
So, my argument, is that they are being greedy even in the face of the original company NOT being greedy. One of the really great things about DBA was it's openness. There isn't really any good excuse for what they are doing. We want to rake you over the coals is NOT a valid excuse.
 
I suppose what makes me most angry about this is that all too many companies see open source as their free lunch and a good way to jump ahead but then they want to turn around and lock things up. That's not how it works. You got your jumpstart and now it's time to pass the love around.

DBA Software gives free access to the source code for a product they abandonned years ago? Wow, that's very generous!
 
 

What a way to spin what I said in a totally tangent direction.  
 
I'm not quite sure where, exactly, you came up with that. My argument is that DBA always gave you the source code when you purchased DBA and thus ISTech had access to the code. They've now turned around and done modifications but they don't in turn release their code even though it's based on code that every DBA customer has.
 
BTW, the DBA sourcecode was done in TAS and DBA is not the producer of TAS. Maybe they can hook you up with the compiler but so can CAS who actually DO produce TAS. I can buy the compiler from CAS for $399 with unlimited distribution rights of my works. That's really quite reasonable.
 
 
The only possible counter to my argument is the licensing of the DBA code. I'm not for sure what each DBA user's rights are with the code. Maybe you can make all the mods you want but need to get licensed with DBA to release those mods outside of your company. That would probably be fair. Still, EvoERP is no good without the technical underpinnings of DBA and thus all potential users of EvoERP are also valid DBA users with the source to the DBA modules at their disposal. That means that potentially ISTech could have released source diff's to the code that we already have and I could compile it here without ISTech ever releasing a drop of DBA code themselves. So I'm at a loss for why they can't release their changes.
 
So I'd love to hear from ISTech themselves as to why they've locked down a formerly open source code. Maybe there is a good reason, maybe not.
 
Quote from dameng   on 09/29/06 at 06:25:39:

actually, none of your arguments are valid. just self indulgent.
 
if you apply your logic to opensource, you can go develop using Firebird database engine and your own compiler.
 
istechsupport has no obligation to any code you've created or modified to run with dba classic or evo. for that matter, neither did DBA Software. all programming and custom programs are at the user risk.
 
istechsupport has supported the customer user base that use dba classic and providing them added potential and functionality to the base form of the program itself.
 
that's all i'm going to say on this thread.

Sounds like this should be transfered to another topic ... matbe Fun Stuff????