Licensing suggestion for DA.

[varangian]

I haven't seen many control panels that offer a free one domain licensing option but I think it would be a good market for DA to move to. You get someone to download, install and configure and hopefully use DA by doing this and they will eventually see how good of a product DA is. After a month or so, they're bound to add another domain to their machine and will want to upgrade their license. Just a thought. Also I think DA should be offered free of charge to official Open Source projects. This way DA is giving back to the community that made it possible. Just a couple things to think about. :D

[l0rdphi1]

Another advantage to this method of licensing is that DA developers will easily run DA at home without having to pay for an additional license OR worry about their dynamic IP.

However, then if one wanted to add another user or domain to his or her box, one would need to purchase a license to "unlock" that ability. I imagine the DA license manager allowing a license_id of sorts to be inputted and automatically checked against DA's DB.

cPanel works somewhat like this, no? (They just do not give you the one free domain.)

That seems interesting. I like this approach. :)

Phi1.

[thoroughfare]

I also really like this idea as it'd be great for use on a test box.

Matt

[UltimeWWW]

Indeed, would be very nice!

I can pay for that license if it's cheap too.

[redesb]

Nice point, count me.

ramon

[varangian]

is there anyway we could get directadmin staff to comment on this suggestion? thanks

[UltimeWWW]

Here is what I suggest. Every owner of a registered license could get a 1-domain license free.

How's that?

[varangian]

Well I was suggesting a 1 domain license for anyone so that people new to DA would check it out use it and eventually upgrade the license (without worrying about it expiring). Sometimes people only have a domain or so to start out with on a server, but then they grow and would eventually purchase it. Key here is to benefit current users and get new people to buy it.

[l0rdphi1]

Having a dynamic IP myself, I would rather the initial suggestion's method of implementation:

Anyone can install and use DA without a license, but to add more than one domain (or user?), the copy of DA will need to be "activated" with a license :)

Phi1.

[bjseiler]

I would love this too (as I have a lot of client's with one domain on dedicated machines and I would like to standardize onto DA)......but I really think this would open such a can of worms for the DA staff to deal with. All of a sudden they would have people getting DA for free and expecting the same support as those who do pay. I think it would end up making people here mad as support requests would take longer to answer.

[DirectAdmin Sales]

A one-domain "personal" license isn't a bad idea, but it presents a few difficulties on this end. Our way of licensing and sending update files assumes that every copy is identical -- we never planned for having two different "types" of binaries running at the same time.

It can be done, but the time needed would distract from other things right now (and there are LOTS of things that need to be done). We do offer a free 30 day fully functional trial, so anyone truly interested in our product will get a good idea of how it works.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that developing free software isn't something we can do right now :D If someone needs a demo license for an extended period of time they can contact me directly and we'll work something out: mark@jbmc-software.com

Thanks

Mark

[thoroughfare]

Hi Mark,

Would it really need to be two binaries? Not just two types of licenses?

Haven't seen you or John on the forums much lately, you guys must be reaaally busy.

Matt :)

[l0rdphi1]

This is pseudo code, but it gives a general idea of what this thread is after.

In the ADD DOMAIN function:
if ( NO_LICENSE_EXISTS && CURRENT_DOMAIN_COUNT > 0 )
{
error "This copy of DA must be activated before you can add another domain."
}

I think it could be that simple, but I understand if this isn't a feasible option. Keep up the good work! :)