AW: [wp-hackers] Update of non GPL-Plugins (was Plugin licenses)

[Jennifer Hodgdon]

Glenn Ansley wrote:
> I don't think any such messages should be provided. Only hosting open source
> is a good decision because it encourages plugin developers to release their
> code if publicly they want to take advantage of the perks. 

I just want to say that there are other reasons besides open-source 
licensing to not host plugins on wp.org.

Here's an example. I have 2 plugins that are (of course) licensed GPL 
that I don't host there, because getting them to work in your blog is 
not a simple matter that an automatic install can take care of (you 
need to modify your theme, get a Google Maps API key, learn how to 
write multilingual content, etc.). People who install these two 
plugins need to read and follow all the instructions on the plugin 
home page (not that they actually do), or they won't work at all.

So, offering a "simple one-step install" for these two plugins makes 
ZERO sense to me -- people would install them, they wouldn't work, and 
then they'd just deactivate and go on, without finding out what they 
needed to do to get them to work. Besides, if more people found them, 
I'm sure I'd have even more support questions to answer. :)

     --Jennifer

-- 
Jennifer Hodgdon * Poplar ProductivityWare
www.poplarware.com

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