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Software development may be open, and the result shared with an Open Source Software licence, but the actual hours of programming are not gratis. Just like everybody else, I need money for mortgage, kids and food, money I make, by doing things with computers, for people who are willing to pay for that. One of the things I do for money, is develop Varnish. From the very beginning of the project the Norwegian company Redpill-Linpro, has channeled money from sponsors and customers, and paid for my time. Redpill-Linpro also offer commercial services based on Varnish, consultancy, hosting, support and other services. That way, the companies which have a contract with Redpill-Linpro, help pay for the future development of Varnish. For all practical purposes this has worked great until now. Unfortunately, some obscure tax rules makes it pretty nasty for me and my accountant: if more than 30% of my work is for the same customer in a Nordic country, I may be deemed an employee of said company with possible double taxation, and other unpleasant paper work as a result. This effectively puts a cap on the amount of work I can do on Redpill-Linpro and consequently: on Varnish. It is my impression, that a fair number of Varnish users are not likely to need the professional services of Redpill-Linpro, and thus unlikely to help pay for future Varnish development via that route. This is where the "Varnish Moral License" comes into the picture: The Varnish Moral License, is a voluntary license payment, directly to the author of Varnish, which helps pay for the development of Varnish. Buying a Varnish Moral License is 100% voluntary, if you do not make money from your website, there is no reason why you should pay for a license to use Varnish on it. If however, Varnish helps your website generate a profit, you should consider getting a Varnish Moral Licence. In all cases, it is entirely up to you (and your morals) if you should get a license or not. That is why I called it a "Moral License". Please buy one. /phk FAQ:Did you just raise your hourly rate ?Last time I revised my pricelist was january 2006 and in since then a bit of inflation has happened without me raising my prices. Seeing the hourly rate of the guy who fixed our washing machine last month reminded me that maybe it was time for me to revisit the pricelist after five years. So from january 2011, the hourly rate for VML will be EUR105, which is still pretty damn cheap by any standard. What kind of money are we talking about ?The goal is to raise something like DKR30.000/USD6000/EUR4500 per month. What do we get in return ?A Moral License to make any kind of big or small money running Varnish on your website, without feeling bad about the poor sucker who created it and his two poor kids, etc etc. On a less abstract level, the Varnish project gets more of my time and attention, to improve the tool you use to get your website to run. What do we not get in return ?A moral license is not a service- or support-contract of any kind. For that, sales@varnish-software.com is your provider. Isn't this more a sort of sponsorship than a license ?Somebody, started the rumour that the name was chosen to sneak this expense into your IT departments budget, along with other software licenses, rather than put it under your marketing department, where all sponsorships belong and where it would compete with the local soccer team. That rumour is very possibly true. I might even have started it myself. Possibly right here. Can I pay for a sponsorship instead ?Sure, I'm game. At least as long as your marketing department does not expect me to hang around at "events" or dump thick binders, full of proper logo placement and pantone colors on me. Send me an email. I already have a contract with Redpill-Linpro, do I need to buy a moral licence also ?No. First: Nobody needs to buy a license, it is entirely voluntary. Second: Redpill-Linpro already supports Varnish development, so you already contribute to the project that way. Third: Thanks, the support is much appreciated. How do we know you are not buying a tropical island for the fortune you are going to make this way ?First reason: I have red hair, I get sunburns from blue LEDs. Second reason: All accounting will be public, on this webpage. Third reason: I didn't do that last time: We don't want our name on your webpage ?Give me a ficticius company name or secret token to use on the public page, as long as I have the real one for the invoicing, the public side of this can be anonymized. Do we get an invoice ?Yes, the moral license is bought from my registered danish corporation, and you will receive an invoice in .pdf via email.
Danish customers and EU citizens will have to pay 25% danish VAT. How does this work in practice ?You send me an email, and tell me:
* How much do you want to pay for your license ? Then I send you an invoice via email When the invoice is paid, the amount will be listed on the right side of this webpage, so that you can verify that your license is accounted for. Do we get fancy license certificates ?If you need one, we can arrange that too. Are you interested in small amounts of money ?Yes and No. If the banks make more on fees, than I do on what remains after their fees have been deducted, I am not interested. Rule of thumb: amounts less than approx 100 EUR/USD benefits mostly the banks What if you get too much money, like last time ?This time I'm doing it slightly differently, to avoid that problem: invoice first, then payment, so that I can control the flow, should the need arise.
The company I work for make a fortune with Varnish, but the Mgt. does not want to buy a moral license. What should I do ?Don't worry about it, they probably have their reasons. I cannot afford a license, is there some other way I can show my appreciation ?Absolutely, a kind & happy email is always nice to receive. There is also my Amazon wish-list: Hey we should post this to digg, reddit, and 742 other sites, you have never heard about, so everybody in the world hears about this!Please don't. Such exposure to people who don't know what varnish is will not help me in any way, quite the contrary, it will probably just end up wasting my time. But feel free to forward this to other Varnish users you know, that is the proper audience. Seriously, is this crappy web-page written in HTML4.01 Transitional in vi(1), by somebody who knows nothing about webdesign ?Yes. You did not answer my question here...Please take off your tin-foil hat for a 30 second, and I will give the ol' mind-reader beam a shot again... Got it. Hmm. I think it is down the first corridor, third or possibly fourth door on the right. There is some kind of picture of a stick-figure man on the door. What ? No ? Really ??! Ok, you'll have to send me the question via email then... |
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