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this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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That's kind of the root of the issue imo; having a subscription based model doesn't really work with open source as the project just gets forked every release to remove the subscription.
This leaves Emby with little option but to go closed source if they want income through subscriptions.
So, I'm not sure I understand what you mean with 'the way they went about it'. Is it the subscription you had an issue with, or the fact that they were no longer open source? What would you have done differently?
And, if you don't mind me asking: Had you supported (paid) Embys developers prior to them shifting to closed source + 'Emby Premiere'?
To be clear, I'm not trying to be argumentative or divisive; I'm just trying to understand the animosity towards Emby and why it's so often left out of the conversation, so to speak. It's something I've never been able to wrap my head around. Thanks for taking the time to chat about this.
It certainly can work, typically, not a whole lot of users would be capable of "just forking it and bypass the paywall". And of them, most (including myself) would rather just pay up (especially for quality software). Most of those remaining might just not be able to afford it, and probably wouldn't pay anyways (Your statement is, essentially, the same that giant corporations use against piracy). The actual rude/asshole users would be what's left, a small minority of a minority.
The fact of going closed source, especially after making statements saying they would pretty much keep it open source (Note: this part of my memory is iffy on this, this could have been just a forum/reddit post/reply from a core dev or something (I would still be pissed about it going closed regardless, because it's actually written in one of my preferred languages, C# :/))
There are definitely a few different monetization options, they could
have just done a subscription and kindly asked those with the means financially and technically to refrain from bypassing it (gamevau.lt does this I know for sure, how well it works out for them is...TBD, kinda young project but really cool to checkout if you're a gamer)
Write a closed source plugin that would house their closed source premium options, or write each premium feature as a plugin, so intro skipping could be a plugin you just buy on their web store for example
Do subscriptions for support packages or maybe even hosting
Have a community, open source branch and a premium closed source branch like pfSense does
Problem is, they sought little input if any from the community, just announced it as a "we're doing this and that's it". No trial runs of alternative plans, surveys or anything. Which they have that right as project owners, but it doesn't make it any less a rude thing to do
I'm fairly certain I didn't, pretty sure they announced it and going closed source and then I began bailing to Plex once I saw their response.