Coding Practices in the Industry

LordMerlin

I have a very paculiar question, and this is:
What are the normal coding practices in the industry, where I want to make money of my coding experience?
I offer web hosting, as well as web development, and I want to be able to offer turn-key solutions to anyone who needs it.
Recently I'v been looking at the whole HTML/TEXT-email thing, and I came to the conclution that using someone else's mime/html class works very well, in this case the one from PHPGuru. And this is where my question starts, and I hope this would cause some good descusion, as I'm sure a lot of people wonder about this.

Can I simply put together a product / solution, made up of my own code, and if needed an already developed class, and then sell it?

LordShryku

Don't think the Code Critque is the right forum for this, since you're not asking anyone to critque any code....

LordMerlin

I'm aware of that, but I couldn't think of a better place to put it, since I want people to critique on the concept

LordShryku

The Echo Lounge would probably be the place for it. That seems to be the "everything else" forum.

ahundiak

It's perfectly acceptable (and indeed encouraged) to use other people's code as long as you follow the license agreement for that particular piece of code.

Moonglobe

Originally posted by ahundiak
It's perfectly acceptable (and indeed encouraged) to use other people's code as long as you follow the license agreement for that particular piece of code.

exactly........

dnirvine

If I wrote a beautiful piece of code that someone else is using for thier profit all I would really want is maybe a credit in the code that is displayed on the site. Or if they are really generous a donation. But overall if I released it for free then I wouldn't mind to much (with the credit, even if it is commented in the code). However if I am releasing it for money I wouldn't want someone reusing my code.

planetsim

dnirvine i know what your saying there, but depending on the situation and what is on offer i my disagree.

For example a while ago i wrote a small Mailing Script which i was distributing for free now a developer wished to use a couple of classes that i wrote for it he offered a small percentage of profits for a couple of months 2-3% i think it was.

Anyway as long as the developer re-using your code has gone to the length to email you for permission and offers something similar or credit or something agreed upon both than i see no wrong doing.

But however if you find out and the developer never asked permission then i would get angry.

dnirvine

Isn't that what I said? If not, it is what I kind of meant....

planetsim

well yes and no. I was more talking about the:

However if I am releasing it for money I wouldn't want someone reusing my code.

Sorry if it sounded like i was talking about your whole post, was a little tired at the time.

I guess that is your opinion. And what i said is mine so in overall we are both right its more of a matter of opinions

chriswheat

I think that if someone releases code for free, you should be able to use the class in your scripting and re-sell it.

However credit should be given to the author of the class you use, and if you do in fact turn a profit from the code... The correct thing to do would be to send the author a nice chuck of change.... After all with out their work you would not have turned a profit.

I think that if one is not willing to share the money than one should not use shared coding, and code the whole system themselves.

not sharing in profits would be like getting a car for free from a friend because you needed it at the time, then selling the car to someone else and not giving your friend a cut of the money. It would be scandalous!

thanks
Chris

dnirvine

Originally posted by chriswheat
not sharing in profits would be like getting a car for free from a friend because you needed it at the time, then selling the car to someone else and not giving your friend a cut of the money. It would be scandalous!

Thanks,
Chris

Not really. If it was a gift or something you shouldn't have to give them money. If you borrowed it then sold it on him, yes, he should get most of the money. But if they post on the net it becomes Public Domain and free to use for any reason. As long as the Author hasn't included any terms of conduct or anything.

BuzzLY

I don't think "releasing for free" is a specific enough criterium.

First of all, according to U.S. copyright laws (I don't even want to venture into international interpretations!), a work is copyrighted once it has been "fixed in a tangible medium." That pretty much means that once a piece of code has been saved to a hard drive, it is copyrighted by its author.

Unless there is some sort of license attached to the code that specifies who has permission to use it, and under what circumstances, then it is NOT free for you to use. The only way you can be legally safe to reuse someone's code for free is if they have given specific permission to do so.

Therefore, if you write a piece of code and do not want anyone to use it without your permission or without paying you, they may not reuse it. You have every right to be angry with someone that abuses the priveledge.

However, to be sure to protect yourself legally (and so that you have a leg to stand on in court), you should attach some sort of license to any completed piece of code you create. You took the time to create and perfect your code, you should take a little more time and protect it, or at least specify what people may do with your code. You should do this even if you want to give it away for free.

Licensing is a complex subject. If you would like more information, go to http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html. Just be prepared to do a LOT of reading!

MouthOfSauron

Other peoples code released under the GPL may often provide the answer; just make sure you comply with the license.

If you take code released under the GPL, you are free to use it as you wish, provided you forward your source code to anyone who buys your product.

So, for example, if you are creating a website for yourself, you are free to use any GPL code as you wish with out any payments. Similarly, if you are creating a product for a client, providing you release the source code to your client (which you have to unless you use encrypted PHP) you are complying with the GPL. Just make sure your client is aware that the resulting software is GPL - i.e. if he sells the PHP code to anyone, he must provide the source (he really has to anyway!)

dave420

If you plan on selling it later on down the road, consider coding it yourself. That way, you retain complete control over it, and you won't get any surprising legal notices months down the road. If you can't code it yourself, seek to buy a licensed version you can distribute. Of course, always comply with the license for any material you have acquired from anywhere.

If you work free code into the mix at an early stage, it's easier to get off the ground, but it might be harder to remedy later on.

dave420

Why isn't there a "No - I code my own stuff" option? :-P

MouthOfSauron

It can work out that GPL'd code will bring you more business, not less.

Look at it this way. You create a GPL program for A, who knows B who wants something similar. They give/sell it to B, but they may not have the expertise to support it, but of course they know someone who does.....

Also if your program becomes well known, the other people distributing it are acting as agents to get your name noticed. Just make sure you have your name liberally sprinkled in your products "about" messages

dave420

True, but if you want to sell it later on, it can be a complete nightmare.

The same ideas about GPL also apply to closed-source (even the giving). You can still get referrals and support agreements, but you have the benefit of being able to sell it if/when you want to, with no rewrites. The only difference is no-one can use it without paying you. 🙂