FW: A Tempest in a Teapot - The Resolution

[Ken Ray]

For those of you who are interested, the following is the post that I sent
to the Improve Rev list, which goes into detail about the player/standalone
issues that were originally raised on this list.

This should hopefully clear everything up...

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software
Web site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com
 

------ Forwarded Message
From: Ken Ray <kray at sonsothunder.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:37:53 -0600
To: Improve Revolution List <improve-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
Conversation: A Tempest in a Teapot - The Resolution
Subject: A Tempest in a Teapot - The Resolution

Hello everyone...

As this thread about the Rev Player/StackRunner/3rd party players/ etc. has
gotten a bit heated, I wanted to let you know that I just got off the phone
with Kevin and there have been some misunderstandings that have perpetuated
this thread. And since I am sort of near the center of this vortex <grin>, I
thought I'd tell you all what is going on so that we're all on the same
page. 

(Kevin, if I say something that's incorrect here, please correct me.)

So lets start with some basic facts:

1) Dreamcard is not going to be upgraded to 2.7 and will not be sold as a
product, however support for it will continue for some time.

2) Dreamcard users will (have?) get incentives to upgrade to Studio since
the product at their price point is going away.

3) Revolution Media is *not* a rebranded Dreamcard, but a more limited form
of Revolution that is designed more for specific kinds of deployments that
correspond to one of the starter templates. (More information about Media is
forthcoming from RunRev.)

4) There is a resource 'tag' in stacks of the 2.7 file format line that
identify what the stack was created in, so it is possible for a player from
RunRev to detect if a stack is a Media stack, or a stack that came from
Studio/Enterprise.

5) The Revolution Player, when it is released, is designed specifically to
play back Rev Media stacks, and is not designed to play Studio/Enterprise
stacks.

OK, with those facts in hand, here's the backstory and where we are today:

When Dreamcard was released, it came with the Dreamcard Player (DP) and some
people had problems with it (no need to spell those out as most of us are
already aware of them). I noticed many posts to the Use Rev list about this,
and based on my read of the 2.6.1 License Agreement, it didn't look to me
like there would be any problem creating a third-party player to calm those
who were frustrated and keep them "in the fold". So StackRunner (SR) was
born and I was giving it away for free.

RunRev had heard the feedback on DP and was planning on addressing the
concerns with a replacement DP for the next major release (2.7), but then
Media came up and put Dreamcard off the map.

During the 2.7 development there was concern that people with DC could
download SR and get the equivalent of a standalone, since SR came with the
ability to automatically launch a stack, and I didn't have any problems with
people renaming SR. So if you bought DC for $99, and downloaded SR for free,
you could deploy something like a "splash screen" standalone and have a
fully working copy of Rev Studio, just minus the ability to create
standalones yourself, which in turn would undercut sales/upgrades to Studio.
Additionally, SR is faceless, so there wasn't even any Revolution branding
in play.

The original intention of the 2.6.1 License Agreement was to prevent just
this kind of circumstance from happening, but the *intention* didn't make it
into the wording of the document itself. Simple words that should have been
one were actually the other. Instead of saying:

"You may not distribute Created Software WITH any form of standalone
executable application if you have purchased the Dreamcard Edition."
(emphasis mine)

It said instead:

"You may not distribute Created Software AS any form of standalone
executable application if you have purchased the Dreamcard Edition."
(emphasis mine)

So when 2.7 rolled around, RunRev wanted to make it clear and put in more
specific and restrictive language. Unfortunately, it seemed to apply to
*any* kind of player application, instead of one designed to play back Rev
Media stacks.  And although Media stacks are "tagged" as Media stacks, and
theoretically only the Rev Media Player should know how to "see" those tags,
there does need to be wording in the License Agreement precluding anyone
from creating a third-party player for Media stacks if they somehow discover
how to locate and identify the tag.

As you can see, the concern was never for playing back stacks created with
Studio/Enterprise with a third party player, but only to deal with the
situation where Dreamcard/Media users could try to use a third-party player
to circumvent upgrading to Studio.

So where does that leave us?

1) The Revolution Media Player, when released, will be able to detect and
play only Media stacks.

2) Kevin is going to revisit the License Agreement and make it very clear
that it is targeted to Media stacks; he is also going to run the proposed
License Agreement by me so that I can provide feedback to make sure that the
license is very clear and specific. This new License Agreement will make its
way into later installs of Rev 2.7.

3) RunRev is planning on upgrading the DP, not for 2.7 file format support
(since this is irrelevant to current DC users as there isn't a version of DC
in 2.7), but to make playing back stacks a more enjoyable experience
(removing RevOnline, dealing with the securemode issue, etc.).

4) People with Studio/Enterprise can create their own player applications
and distribute them if they like since it won't interfere with running Media
stacks.

5) StackRunner will continue to be distributed until DP 2.7 is released.
After that point, I will change the information on the web page to repurpose
SR to be a player meant for Studio/Enterprise users to simplify deployment,
and will probably make a 2.7 build, safe in the knowledge that it can't play
Media stacks. I will also very clearly point out the existence of DP 2.7 and
point DC users to use that player. I will also make it very clear that SR
can't play back Media stacks, and will direct people to download the Rev
Media Player. Since the wording of the 2.6.1 License Agreement is muddy,
RunRev isn't selling DC anymore, and those who have been frustrated with the
previous DP have probably already downloaded SR, it is likely that there
will be fewer and fewer DC people downloading SR, especially with the 2.7 DP
when it is released.

6) Finally, this does not impinge in any way on Studio/Enterprise users
wanting to deploy their stacks with a player, whether it be DP, SR, or a
player of their own making. It also in no way impinges on creating
"splash-sreen standalone" applications that open other stacks.

So I hope this clears everything up, and I would ask that comments related
to this thread be held until the new 2.7 Licensing Agreement, Rev Media, and
the Rev Media Player are made available. After that time, if you still have
concerns, bring 'em up...

Sorry for the long post, but it was necessary to get everyone on the same
page...


Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software
Web site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com

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