

Clearing up the confusion around Growl 1.3. - zbowling
http://growl.posterous.com/growl-13-a-summary-of-the-major-changes?referer=hn

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jreposa
I thought it was disingenuous that I got prompted to update Growl, which led
me to the uninstall script, then asked me to buy through the App Store.

I just kind of shrugged and didn't complete the last step. And as dotBen
mentioned, my productivity is better for it.

If I knew it wasn't a free update, I never would have uninstalled.

~~~
gks
From what I understand it won't work for much longer due to the sandboxing
requirements that'll be coming in Lion. So, probably best to uninstall
eventually rather than have something there that won't work.

(Correct me if I'm wrong here but that was my understanding)

~~~
jreposa
I do believe that is the case. I'm not questioning the reason for the
uninstall. And, just to be clear, I'm not questioning his motives either. I
think it's a really useful program and SDK.

I just didn't like finding out it was a paid app after I innocently clicked on
update and uninstalled. I trusted that I was actually getting an update. I was
left without my notifications and a bad taste.

------
jey

      Without changing to this paid Growl model, Growl would 
      have died off and would no longer be around to use at all. 
      Growl is however still Open Source
    

Wonderful non-sequitur.

~~~
cube13
Why? You can sell Free Software. The FSF states that in their
FAQ([http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-
faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowMone...](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-
faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney)). There is absolutely nothing wrong with
charging for Growl.

~~~
jey
It's a non-sequitur to claim that free software "wouldn't exist" unless they
charged for it. Programmers can (and often do) contribute to open source
software without getting paid for it.

~~~
kennu
Then again, if nobody maintains a current version that's compatible with the
latest OSX and provides automatic updates, you can say that the product "dies
off" even if the source code is still out there.

------
dotBen
If Growl is going to remain Open Source, as the note says, then someone should
really compile a free version from the google code repository and give folks
the option to buy it in the App Store or download the community version.

 _Although I've taken this opportunity to remove Growl and my productivity is
better for it_

~~~
zbowling
Hey Ben!

I'm actually helping out the growl team work towards 1.4. That's entirely an
option. This model is similar to Textmate and XChat which remain open source
but if you want to download the binary version you can either pay for them a
well tested version from a trusted source to help support the project or find
any number of the third party builds from questionable sources.

Paying the $2 gives you unlimited updates forever in the store and helps
support a full time dev working on the project is all. Growl is used by
thousands but is maintained by 4ish people people (and now me) in their free
time and it doesn't get the attention it needs.

(On another note, we should grab a drink sometime! Haven't ran into you in
months!)

~~~
dotBen
Absolutely, people should definitely support the software if they use + enjoy
it. As you'll note from my parent comment, I carefully wrote:

 _"and give folks the option to buy it in the App Store or download the
community version."_

I intentionally framed this about empowering everyone to exercise the choice
afforded to them under the New BSD License rather than specifically saying
"just get it for free", etc.

Yes, we should definitely catch up sometime soon :)

EDIT: also just to point out:

 _"or find any number of the third party builds from questionable sources"_

You know, if you guys offered a free, open source community edition then folks
wouldn't need to obtain the build from a 'questionable source'. Just sayin'
;). You could even just provide official MD5 Checksums for the binary of the
compilation of undoctored code from the current release.

That would help people know there were no 'added backdoors'/malware etc in the
software obtained from a 3rd party.

------
andrewpi
Is the source for 1.3 actually posted now? I know it wasn't before.

~~~
zbowling
It's a little slow making it over to google code. It's been up for a while.
Bleeding edge work is on a private HG and cloned over to Google nightly (or
least it's supposed too). Can always come into #growl on freenode and ask for
access the other repo.

------
dlikhten
"Applications can still send notifications via growl api, growl is just like
"growl pro""

That is good. I support them for that.

~~~
philwelch
My question is, without Growl, how do I tell those apps to stop sending me
notifications?

~~~
zacwest
There's both a preference to disable it for an application, which can also be
applied globally. Apps can also add a preference to their own app to toggle
it. A "Mist enabler/disabler" app should be written to allow you to configure
it easily, IMO.

