

Linux Mint diverts [$3.41] Banshee revenue - nickolai
http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/231963/linux-mint-diverts-banshee-revenue

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dspillett
I don't see this as a major problem, at least not one limited to Mint. Ubuntu
does the same thing (as pointed out in the linked article) and it has been
talked about happening to other packages be other packagers too.

It isn't something that you'll ever stop happening, but if the authors of
software containing affiliate IDs to embed into links there is at least a way
to make it obvious to the user. Make it a configurable option. Keep your own
affiliate link hard-coded, but include a spot in the per-install and per-user
configuration files where a different affiliate ID can be provided. On first
run for a given user, if there is an alternate ID provided in the global
configuration give the user the choice of which to use: the author's ID or the
packager's ID, and store the choice in the per-user config file. You could
even give the user the option to opt-out completely, which would be a nice
gesture, and a knowledgeable user could change the ID at a later date by
editing the config (or you could provide a box in the options area of any GUI
associated with the application).

This way the user knows if the packager has suggested a different ID (if they
haven't either just keep quiet and use the default or give the user a "Can we
use our affiliate ID please? It funds development of this tool." yes/no option
on first start), unless the packager patches around that, which would in my
opinion be too far over the shady side of the line. By all means keep your
affiliate ID (or the yes option if it is just a yes/no situation) as the
default (again, if the package maintainer mess with this rather than just
providing an alternate ID to chose from I'd consider that "not cricket"): I
can't speak for all users but if I'm asked and it is explained to me exactly
what is being sent/tracked and why I will probably say yes, if an affiliate ID
is "sneaked in" without me knowing and I find out I'm liable to go to some
lengths to block it.

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nodata
Just because Canonical did something morally dubious doesn't make it okay for
Mint to do it too.

To take this to the logical conclusion, Banshee should never earn any
affiliate revenue ever (unless people build from source), and the distro
should take it all.

This is clearly ridiculous.

No distro removes ":help uganda" from vim, and I would argue that if only one
side were to get the money, it should be Banshee.

The truth is the distros need Banshee, Banshee needs the distros. Rather than
arguing over who needs who how much, split the money 50/50.

~~~
PerryCox
> "The truth is the distros need Banshee, Banshee needs the distros. Rather
> than arguing over who needs who how much, split the money 50/50."

This hits the nail on the head. Joel Spolsky's answer about splitting equity
comes to mind.[1]

[1]:[http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/6949/forming-a-
new-s...](http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/6949/forming-a-new-software-
startup-how-do-i-allocate-ownership-fairly/23326#23326)

~~~
tzury
This is no doubt, a great and _canonical_ guide for equity splitting, yet I
find it hard to see the link to this case.

~~~
PerryCox
I think the relevant part would be this quote: "Fairness, and the perception
of fairness, is much more valuable than owning a large stake."

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nyellin
Banshee's monthly profits until August 2011:
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlEOoO4Ozn9IdFR...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlEOoO4Ozn9IdFRjRUdYWndTekotQnc1Q3pIU1hEQ0E&hl=en#gid=0)

It's sad that things worked out like this. Ubuntu is dropping Banshee in
12.04, supposedly to remove the Mono dependency from ubuntu-desktop.

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ahoge
Since this isn't restricted by the GPL, you can do whatever you want. From a
moral standpoint it is kinda bogus though. (Unsurprisingly, the author of that
article arrives at the same conclusion.)

~~~
natrius
The GPL doesn't prevent this behavior, nor is it intended to.

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spedsal
If you don't want Mint to get that $3.41, just update Banshee from their PPA
-- that should remove Mint's (or Canonical's) affiliate code, right?

I feel like Banshee should get the proceeds from these sales to keep Banshee
in active development -- Mint and Canonical should feel this way, too. Why
wouldn't they want to support their upstream components? In theory, they could
burn through all the good media players they might integrate into their
distributions, if this affiliate pocket change "theft" caused them to cease
development.

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mise
Mint's choice to give a broken Google custom search engine in Firefox and
Chrome is my main issue with the operating system (which means I like their
other choices in design).

The forums in effect say "tough, that's how we make money".

In Firefox, it cannot be replaced in a straightforward manner with default
Google. Yes, there are ways around it. But they're technical, and fidgety.
It's a nuisance.

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andyking
Is it just me for whom the scrolling "ITworld LIVE" thing just inside my field
of vision makes the article really difficult to concentrate on?

Why do I need to know that someone's just joined their site, or 'shared' a
completely different article (with whom?). It's just an overload of irrelevant
'information.'

~~~
jerrya
I have no idea why publishers present that sort of crap, or the scrolling
twitter feeds either.

It truly proves conclusively these sites are far more about the clicks than
they are about presenting information

I would like to see an adblock/ghostery/disconnect/... utility that
specifically removed any auto scrolling elements.

------
hendrix
mint supports the MATE desktop (gnome 2.x fork). whilst the diverting of
royalties is a quite morally sketch, distribution of MATE takes precedence IMO
since it is providing sanity in the world of the unholy mess of train-wreck
desktop environments aka gnome 3 & unity.

~~~
keithpeter
Linux is about choice, so I wish the MATE project well, however, it could be
seen as thinning out the resources available for XFCE development... and so it
goes...

