Instead of us being the product (new biz model) do it the old way

[HermesPan]

I.e. sell us subscription to Calibre on a life time or yearly basis. I trust a company better that charges me for services rendered. Otherwise I am suspicious how they are profiting from the enterprise - selling my email address, selling info from tracking me, sselling my use of the app to whoever buys the company? No, I just want to pay as I go, in cash by mail, like hushmail of Canada did in 1995.
.

[BetterRed]

Hit the Support Calibre button on the link i posted in your other thread and you'll see a link inviting you to become a Patron - you get to choose how much you want to pay per month.

BTW calibre doesn't provide any ongoing services as such - apart from optional new versions

BR

[HermesPan]

Donating is like the cable TV business model. Isn't there a way to withhold results of work on Calibre unless fee is paid?

[kacir]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

Otherwise I am suspicious how they are profiting from the enterprise - selling my email address, selling info from tracking me, sselling my use of the app to whoever buys the company? No, I just want to pay as I go, in cash by mail, like hushmail of Canada did in 1995.
.

Calibre author is not selling anything. He is asking for a donation.
Even *I* have donated a bit of money. You see, I have never (directly) paid for software apart from Calibre. I have purchased a new notebook with Windows installed, but there was no choice. I have also purchased a few second-hand PCs with OEM version of Windows and MSOffice. I am aware that Microsoft would disagree, but I am not a company so I can get away with that. Otherwise [at home] I use Linux and predominantly open source software.

How do I know that the Calibre author is not selling your email address or whatever? Calibre is free software. Anybody can inspect the source code for any illicit activity. Anybody can "fork" Calibre and continue development if they are [in some point in the future] not satisfied with the direction where development is heading.

So, start Calibre, hit "donate" button and send some money. Anonymously, if you wish.

Or become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/kovidgoyal

Or, roll up your sleeves and help to translate some strings in your national version of Calibre, or write some code, help improve documentation, or answer a newbie question on the forum ;-)

[kacir]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

Donating is like the cable TV business model.

That seems to be working at the moment.

Originally Posted by HermesPan

Isn't there a way to withhold results of work on Calibre unless fee is paid?

As I stated in previous post Calibre is Open Source. It is not being held for ransom the way some other pieces of software are.

[kovidgoyal]

I have been working on calibre full time supported by donations for over a decade. Far longer than most "companies". And no I dont sell calibre users email addresses, even if I had them, which I dont, unless a calibre user contacts me by email, or makes a donation, since paypal requires email addresses.

[Ghitulescu]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

I.e. sell us subscription to Calibre on a life time or yearly basis. I trust a company better that charges me for services rendered. Otherwise I am suspicious how they are profiting from the enterprise - selling my email address, selling info from tracking me, sselling my use of the app to whoever buys the company? No, I just want to pay as I go, in cash by mail, like hushmail of Canada did in 1995.
.

What makes you think that if you pay the company won't sell your personal data, anyway?

This is a generic rhetoric question - has nothing to do with Calibre, its author or anything else related.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

I.e. sell us subscription to Calibre on a life time or yearly basis. I trust a company better that charges me for services rendered. Otherwise I am suspicious how they are profiting from the enterprise - selling my email address, selling info from tracking me, sselling my use of the app to whoever buys the company? No, I just want to pay as I go, in cash by mail, like hushmail of Canada did in 1995.
.

Wow. You would prefer sending cash in the mail?

I've never read anything, here or on other sites, to make me distrust the Calibre creator or the software. Given the blunt honesty and wide scope of the knowledge regular users of this site have on display, don't you think if there was something to be wary of, it would be front page news here?

Plenty of paid services turn around and sell customer info.

[Apparition B5]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

I.e. sell us subscription to Calibre on a life time or yearly basis. I trust a company better that charges me for services rendered. Otherwise I am suspicious how they are profiting from the enterprise - selling my email address, selling info from tracking me, sselling my use of the app to whoever buys the company? No, I just want to pay as I go, in cash by mail, like hushmail of Canada did in 1995.
.

Not everything is about money. Calibre is completely open source. You're free to inspect the code for yourself if you don't trust Mr. Goyal. Of course, donations are welcome.

FWIW, sending cash via mail is a terrible idea.

[aborel]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

Donating is like the cable TV business model. Isn't there a way to withhold results of work on Calibre unless fee is paid?

Dear HermesPan,

I might be mistaken, of course, but I don't think Kovid is collecting any user information from calibre. None. There is nothing to withhold, because no one is actually trying to obtain anything from you.

Just enjoy Calibre as the free open-source software it is. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software for what you might interpret as Calibre's business model. As stated by others, donations are welcome but not mandatory.

[stumped]

"because no one is actually trying to obtain anything from you."

here ,of course, we gleefully sell all your personal info whenever you post, and put the proceeds into the stupidity jar

treat yourself to a tin foil hat and move along please - nothing to see or critique here

[haertig]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

I.e. sell us subscription to Calibre on a life time or yearly basis. I trust a company better that charges me for services rendered.

It is right to be suspicious of certain software. Just look at how Facebook is abusing their users. I can't fathom why anyone would use that software.

But you have to apply your suspicions using a bit of intelligence, logic, research, experience, intuition, etc. There are many examples of trustworthy, high quality, commercial level software that do not cost anything except for donations you may optionally send. Calibre is one of those. Sitting right there at the top of the list IMHO.

But keep you eyes open always. Were Kovid to retire from Calibre and sell the brand off to some company, I would view any new release the new company put out with heightened suspicion. Look at what happened to the used-to-be-good Android software "ES File Explorer". It was originally a highly respected and great piece of software. Now, well let's say, not so much.

But Kovid has proven his integrity and ability to design and code a fantastic product over and over. For many years. His name is forever inscribed in the Internet Book Of Coding Heros.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by haertig

It is right to be suspicious of certain software. Just look at how Facebook is abusing their users. I can't fathom why anyone would use that software.

But you have to apply your suspicions using a bit of intelligence, logic, research, experience, intuition, etc. There are many examples of trustworthy, high quality, commercial level software that do not cost anything except for donations you may optionally send. Calibre is one of those. Sitting right there at the top of the list IMHO.

But keep you eyes open always. Were Kovid to retire from Calibre and sell the brand off to some company, I would view any new release the new company put out with heightened suspicion. Look at what happened to the used-to-be-good Android software "ES File Explorer". It was originally a highly respected and great piece of software. Now, well let's say, not so much.

But Kovid has proven his integrity and ability to design and code a fantastic product over and over. For many years. His name is forever inscribed in the Internet Book Of Coding Heros.

And think about what your ISP does with your traffic information
They know what IP's you connect with, for how much time/data. I see web pages download, then repaint with more ad content, which leads me to suspect that the request was intercepted somewhere on route and modified. We are talking MAJOR media outlets, not some tiny company
BTW some of the ads I see on MY PC, were related more to what my wife views on HER PC. That implies IP profiling (I do have a static, but that part might be moot)

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by HermesPan

I.e. sell us subscription to Calibre on a life time or yearly basis. I trust a company better that charges me for services rendered. Otherwise I am suspicious how they are profiting from the enterprise - selling my email address, selling info from tracking me, sselling my use of the app to whoever buys the company? No, I just want to pay as I go, in cash by mail, like hushmail of Canada did in 1995.
.

If you are suspicious or become so in the future, you can always move on. If Kovid was doing something nefarious, you would have seen warnings in here a LONG time ago.