Comments on: IntelliJ IDEA goes free and open source http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html Tech writing blog Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:04:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: tim http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html/comment-page-1#comment-146760 tim Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:19:18 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html#comment-146760 @Bill it was a combination of factors - I am sure the "JBuilder personal" period did not help; and I don't believe Borland had the vision for JBuilder as a platform until it was too late. Tim @Bill it was a combination of factors – I am sure the “JBuilder personal” period did not help; and I don’t believe Borland had the vision for JBuilder as a platform until it was too late.

Tim

]]> By: Bill Joy http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html/comment-page-1#comment-146747 Bill Joy Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:27:10 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html#comment-146747 @Tim Then we are now agreed it was not lack of a free version nor lack of support for third-party add-ons that helped Eclipse take JBuilder market share. @Tim

Then we are now agreed it was not lack of a free version nor lack of support for third-party add-ons that helped Eclipse take JBuilder market share.

]]> By: tim http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html/comment-page-1#comment-146693 tim Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:42:19 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html#comment-146693 @Bill Ah yes, this 2001 article lays it out nicely: http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/27345 This is where Tony de Lama explains the change in EULA as you say: <blockquote> The features and functionality of JBuilder Foundation were so strong that the need to actually purchase Professional or Enterprise versions from Borland was lessened or simply not necessary for many users. This allowed customers to be able to standardize on Foundation for their Java development needs without purchasing licenses from Borland. While Foundation was intended as a seeding mechanism for JBuilder, the unintended side effect was a reduction in Professional and Enterprise sales. We have seen cases where large companies standardized on Foundation as their IDE and did not want to purchase JBuilder licenses from us. Foundation was available as a purchased product for $49.95 and as a free download from our web site. ... So, starting in JBuilder 5, we renamed Foundation to the new name "Personal" and included a license that allows JBuilder to be used for personal, non-commercial purposes. </blockquote> As it turned out, that change was relatively short-lived - presuming it was reversed in 2003 with JBuilder X. It was probably a mistake; though considering the weight of support behind Eclipse perhaps it did not make a critical difference. Tim @Bill

Ah yes, this 2001 article lays it out nicely:

http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/27345

This is where Tony de Lama explains the change in EULA as you say:

The features and functionality of JBuilder Foundation were so strong that the need to actually purchase Professional or Enterprise versions from Borland was lessened or simply not necessary for many users. This allowed customers to be able to standardize on Foundation for their Java development needs without purchasing licenses from Borland. While Foundation was intended as a seeding mechanism for JBuilder, the unintended side effect was a reduction in Professional and Enterprise sales. We have seen cases where large companies standardized on Foundation as their IDE and did not want to purchase JBuilder licenses from us. Foundation was available as a purchased product for $49.95 and as a free download from our web site.
… So, starting in JBuilder 5, we renamed Foundation to the new name “Personal” and included a license that allows JBuilder to be used for personal, non-commercial purposes.

As it turned out, that change was relatively short-lived – presuming it was reversed in 2003 with JBuilder X. It was probably a mistake; though considering the weight of support behind Eclipse perhaps it did not make a critical difference.

Tim

]]> By: Bill Joy http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html/comment-page-1#comment-146670 Bill Joy Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:28:37 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html#comment-146670 @Tim Wikipedia is not always accurate and in this case is wrong. I still have a CD with JBuilder 3.5 Foundation. Neither that version nor that there were multiple SKUs of it are even in the list under "JBuilder Versions". (Yet that release is mentioned in the text of the article so it should be an obvious lapse.) Free versions called Foundation also existed for JBuilder 4 and 5. There was a JBuilder 6 Personal which resulted from the EULA change. @Tim

Wikipedia is not always accurate and in this case is wrong.

I still have a CD with JBuilder 3.5 Foundation. Neither that version nor that there were multiple SKUs of it are even in the list under “JBuilder Versions”. (Yet that release is mentioned in the text of the article so it should be an obvious lapse.)

Free versions called Foundation also existed for JBuilder 4 and 5. There was a JBuilder 6 Personal which resulted from the EULA change.

]]> By: Gary http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html/comment-page-1#comment-146539 Gary Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:57:38 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html#comment-146539 Kind of begs the question is a java ide a commerically viable product? Java never really delivered on its write once run anywhere, in fact it still doesn't, working with large scale ERP systems that deliver functionality via applets still causes deployment issues even today. Personally I think its use is on the decline due to cloud based/SaaS offerings using LAMP and/or javascript frameworks delivering rich UI in a browser, who needs Java? Gary Kind of begs the question is a java ide a commerically viable product? Java never really delivered on its write once run anywhere, in fact it still doesn’t, working with large scale ERP systems that deliver functionality via applets still causes deployment issues even today.

Personally I think its use is on the decline due to cloud based/SaaS offerings using LAMP and/or javascript frameworks delivering rich UI in a browser, who needs Java?

Gary

]]> By: tim http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html/comment-page-1#comment-146521 tim Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:57:39 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html#comment-146521 @Bill Thanks for the comment. No doubt you are right; though I don't recall Borland promoting this idea of a free platform for add-ons until JBuilder X Foundation in 2003. Before that the free version was called "Personal" according to Wikipedia which conveys a different message. Tim @Bill

Thanks for the comment. No doubt you are right; though I don’t recall Borland promoting this idea of a free platform for add-ons until JBuilder X Foundation in 2003. Before that the free version was called “Personal” according to Wikipedia which conveys a different message.

Tim

]]> By: Bill Joy http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html/comment-page-1#comment-146501 Bill Joy Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:45:37 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/1880-intellij-idea-goes-free-and-open-source.html#comment-146501 Your JBuilder history about when free versions were offered is inaccurate. There have been free versions of JBuilder (and all could accept third-party addons) with every release of JBuilder since December 1999 (the date of the first all-Java version release). In fact, the first free version was even available a few months before the first commercial all-Java version. The more interesting question is why the EULA for the free version JBuilder changed so that it could no longer be used to build commercial applications. JBuilder developers were told that this was because of a high number of downloads from people on the ibm.com domain. Your JBuilder history about when free versions were offered is inaccurate.

There have been free versions of JBuilder (and all could accept third-party addons) with every release of JBuilder since December 1999 (the date of the first all-Java version release). In fact, the first free version was even available a few months before the first commercial all-Java version.

The more interesting question is why the EULA for the free version JBuilder changed so that it could no longer be used to build commercial applications. JBuilder developers were told that this was because of a high number of downloads from people on the ibm.com domain.

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