A more serious conversation

[kovidgoyal]

Oh and I forgot one more reason:

The OC system allows you to specify what software it will recommend. Unfortunately, none of the windows software I use (admittedly, a very small set to start with) was on their list at the time.

[Valloric]

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.

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".

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.

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.

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

3. As far as I understood it, the OC component requires a network connection to work.

Yes, and if there's no network connection, AFAIK it does nothing. And you're back to vanilla without ads.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[kovidgoyal]

Go for it, if you actually make enough money to justify working on Sigil then it is totally worth it. If not, you can always remove it in the future.

I also use google code host the calibre downloads, but I have my own calibre website that has a prominent donate button on the download page. Again a bit of work to setup, but probably worth it in the long run. There are open source hosting services that give you free websites for open source projects, berlios.de comes to mind.

By way of more motivation for the donate button:

1) you can make it optional, like it is in calibre

2) About 30% of total calibre donations come from that button. The rest if from the website.

[EowynCarter]

Right now, i'm really really really glad i'm a linux user.

I would have no problem with sigil becoming a paid app, i would gladly pay for it.
But ads, well, i just can't stand them.

[cuthbert19]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Right now, i'm really really really glad i'm a linux user.

I would have no problem with sigil becoming a paid app, i would gladly pay for it.
But ads, well, i just can't stand them.

You only have a *single* ad during the installation phase ... surely you *can* stand that?

[cybmole]

& it;s not like there's a new version to install every week - sigil has updates what - twice in 6 months , & probably everything I use it for worked fine 2 versions ago !

[Toxaris]

Ah, but the new version will be very sweet! Anyway, I don't mind that there are no frequent updates. I rather have Valloric takes his time and deliver a good working product. So far no complaints.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by cuthbert19

You only have a *single* ad during the installation phase ... surely you *can* stand that?

Mmm, no. I'm just allergic to ads.

[cuthbert19]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Mmm, no. I'm just allergic to ads.

So, you keep your eyes constantly closed during commercials on TV, or walking down the street, right?

I know what you mean, but, really ... you didn't even see what it really mean for this change in the installer phase: you have an additional windows where OpenCandy proposes a program for you to install. You just have to click on "next" (the default is "do not install the proposed additional software") and there you go ... definitely less ad-exposure than on your standard web page

[EowynCarter]

So, you keep your eyes constantly closed during commercials on TV

During commercial on tv either I mute the tv and close my eyes for a while, or go do something else.

[Freeshadow]

coffee fetch breaks

[roger64]

Hi, Valloric

These are good questions. I can't see how ads could be a problem not only because I am a Linux user and I will not see them. You need and deserve something, and if this is a solution, sure go for it.

As far as I am concerned, I do not use bidet even if I am French and for the same reason you gave us -no bloat-, I still use the 0.2.4 portable Linux version which very well suits my basic needs.

Say, one year ago, I used Sigil to split, add meta-data and tweak a little the code (these % for images and so on).

Now, with other automatic EPUB making software around being perfected, I use it only for quick code tweaking of xhtml files, mostly for images display. It means inserting things like height:100%;width:100%; or these kind of things.

But, seriously, it's really a very useful task. I know of no other practical tool which could fulfill this task so conveniently and I probably will need it for a long time.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

coffee fetch breaks

Exactly