Pretend Open Source to get the word out – then let em pay

Although it seems a bit unorthodox at first sight the way ActiveCollab has gained fame is probably one of the most ingenious ones I’ve ever seen on the web.

Until late 2007  and version 0.7.x, ActiveCollab was declared an Open Source project and free of charge and use. It did have a few bugs back then but was – all in all – usable.

Today, I wanted to check back and take another look at the project to see whether the tool had been cleaned of the bugs and if it was now ready for real use. Arriving on the page I looked for the download link which had been replaced with a “Pricing & Buy” button.

I don’t know how the general public, especially those that have contributed ideas and code to the project, think about it. But I’d be pretty pissed off if my intellectual contributions, time, and effort would be used to gain profit.

Bottom line: ingenious way to get the word out about a tool! My respect.

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