"I just can't get no respect ..."

Unless FF develops another version of FF which would be a "Production" version that can somehow be encrypted so that FF can use the filter, but the ability to open it in the editor is locked out.

That's where I disagree jffe.

FF's interest is in selling their application. Lots of free filters makes that easier for them. But that doesn't serve the needs of the filter authors who might be making commercial level filters with the right profit incentive.

Look at Alien Skin's Eye Candy filters. They are only possible because a symbiotic relationship exists between them and Adobe. Adobe provides Alien Skin what they need because Adobe sells more Photoshop licenses because of the value adding being done by Alien Skin. If FF sees that they would sell a large quantity of Filter Forge apps because you and others have developed commercial level filters that people want to license from you and are willing to also license Filter Forge to do so, then FF has to be crazy not to act in their own self interest.

Well, we already know they can lock the filters from being opened, this has been a fact for a while now, since a few months back when they started selling the $99 no-editing allowed version of FF. Why won't they do it for the pro version ? Because they obviously must not see/understand/agree with the benefit(s) you mentioned Fred. I do of course, but I can't help but play devil's advocate and arrange the known facts, to show where we are at in time and what has been done and what has not been done, so that a theory can then be presented about the not-done part.

jffe

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StevieJ wrote: Encryption coding is never going to happen because it slows filters too much.....

----Stevie, it's already been done man, that's what the $99 express version of FF is, ya can't open/edit the filters. And even if it was done inside the FF program, then it should be just as easy to do it in the filters themselves, it's just a yes/no tag, can I open this filter, yes, or no.

jffe

it's not that simple, jffe. in the $99 version, the FF ENGINE is locked, not the filters. the filters are all xml style, which means anyone can open them and alter them in notepad. it's just a sort of script file that tells the engine what parameters are requested/required. i've done it. i had to fix one of my filters once and simply opened it in notepad and edited it so that it worked again (after a crash).

you could tag the filters, but again, xml, script, easily opened, tag can be removed or altered. same with a serial number. i suppose you could do a crc check or something to make sure the byte count/arithmetic was right, though. but it's not as easy as just saying 'lock the filters'.

contracts between producer and buyer would/could work. you do own the copyrights to any filter you produce. selling outright would be the same. just one warning on that, though, you'd have to register your filter with the copyright office. you cant sue based on copyright unless the copyright is registered. (or at least, that's how i read the copyright law).

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StevieJ wrote: jffe, dude I'm talking about the security encryptions.....as Vlad stated, they aren't going to put them on because they create a serious drag on filter speed.....

----I'm not really aware of that bit, I didn't see Vlad's post about it. But, o.k., so it slows the filter down some, still not really a big deal, make them lockable, it's not like everyone (or even all that many people) is gonna choose that option anyways.

jffe

Don't take this statement as a condoning of software piracy but consider this:

Clipart, digital image and stock photography collections as well as utility software applications are all sold with no protection other than an EULA and perhaps a book that is difficult to reproduce and is integral to using the collection efficiently.

Fonts are sold all over the place with no protection other than an EULA.

Both suffer losses from some illegal duplication and redistribution. But they recognize and accept that they can do no better without expense and customer inconvenience. Yet they still produce and sell products. They do this because it is still a profitable enterprise.

If you could sell 1,000 licenses of a filter you created for $29.00 a copy and had the advance knowledge that 2,000 illegal copies would also come into circulation as a result, would you ... Make the sale and enjoy the $29,000 or would you go and do something else because you couldn't stand the thought that you were also getting ripped off?

I actually had a guy walk into my store selling clipart door-to-door and by the time I got to the third page of his catalog I starting seeing my own work that his suppliers had stolen from me. It stung like hell and made me angry.

But I still publish clipart.