Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
1. I do not like having a closed source component from a third party in calibre. I have no way to know what exactly that component does.
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The component will never enter the Sigil repository, and is not really a part of Sigil, just the Windows installers. Anyone could get the Sigil sources from the repo and build installers without the OC DLL.
I don't really see a problem here, except that part about "not knowing what it does". This is true, but every relationship is based on trust. OC seems to be trusted by large companies, and much more importantly, by large open source projects I respect. Their reputation, for now, is very solid.
It also goes without saying that if I get even a sliver of a credible report of something fishy going on with the DLL, the installers would be taken down faster than you can say "fucking furious".
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
2. I absolutely abhor having to spend time on pointless things like clicking Next buttons. calibre's installer is designed to be a single click (after you accept the license) to install, unless you want to use it in Advanced mode.
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I don't really think most people care about this. Windows users are accustomed to wizard-based installers. You as a Linux user see them much less frequently, so I do understand your annoyance.
But the Sigil Windows installers have always been wizard-based. I doubt anyone will be bothered by another page in the installer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
3. As far as I understood it, the OC component requires a network connection to work.
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Yes, and if there's no network connection, AFAIK it does nothing. And you're back to vanilla without ads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
4. I would, like you, have made it default off, in which case (I imagine), the number of installs, and hence the revenue would fall off drastically. Certainly, personally, I would never click on an add in an installer.
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I'd probably never click one either. Some people would though. This goes in the "I don't like chocolate ice cream" bin (it really tastes like crap, how can anyone eat that?), but my sister loves it.
Go figure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
5. People using calibre are incredibly generous and I actually get enough money from donations to work full time on it.
Whether you choose to add the OC component or not, I would urge you to make it easier to donate to Sigil. In particular, have a donate link on the download page and a donate button in the application itself. People may surprise you.
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I've been thinking about this. I can't change the download page though, it's in Google's hands. But I can add a link in the Help menu in Sigil.
I dislike a large "donate" button in the main UI on aesthetic grounds. Again, chocolate ice cream.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
Coming to your points about features. I agree wholeheartedly, the hardest part of my work is turning down enthusiastic contributors. You should maybe consider embedding a scripted language interpreter in Sigil to enable plugins. It's a lot of work, true, but it will payoff in the long term.
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This has been
talked about before (I even started that thread). It's on my TODO list, and it's a killer feature, but that's a loooong list even if we only look at killer/must-have features.