PC World may Publish Rainmeter in their Annual CD

[sgtevmckay]

OMG! Folks look at how far we have come in a year

I just received the following e-mail

March 12, 2010

Dear Rainmeter team,

Congratulations!

On behalf of PC World, I’m delighted to tell you that the 64-bit version of Rainmeter has been selected for possible inclusion on PC World’s upcoming Mastering Windows CD. This disc will offer a collection of useful software provided to our new magazine subscribers this year. The CD will include applications that will run on Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

When you participate in the Mastering Windows CD-ROM, your software will be identified as a tool that tech-savvy computer users should know about. It’s great exposure, and it costs you nothing!

CD details: In addition to our award-winning technology coverage, new PC World subscribers receive special premiums—free bonus gifts that provide them with useful tools, tips and tricks, along with recommendations from PC World’s editors.

The Mastering Windows CD-ROM will be available only to subscribers—our most loyal and highly-valued customers—and not through newsstand sales.

How to participate: To be included on the Mastering Windows CD-ROM, reply to this message with the following information:

1. Your full company name.

2. Name of the software (and version number, if applicable).

3. Indicate whether you have separate versions for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP users.

4. Provide the actual file/s (or a link to the .exe file/s) to be included on the CD-ROM, if your updated version is not already available via our Downloads Library at PCWorld.com/downloads. For example, if you released a new version to work on Windows 7 machines, the download may be available on your company’s site, but not via PCWorld.com.

By replying, you give PC World permission to include your software in the upcoming CD-ROM as described in this message.

This is a one-time permission, and this permission does not authorize us to use your software for any other purpose. If you’re not authorized to grant this kind of permission on behalf of your company, please forward this message to the appropriate party. Thank you!

Please note that because we’re on a tight production schedule, only companies that respond by 5:00PM PST on Monday, April 5, 2010, will be eligible for inclusion on the Mastering Windows CD-ROM.

I’d be glad to answer any questions you might have.

I look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,

Leah Yamshon
Editorial Intern, PCWorld and PCWorld.com
Address omitted
PhoneNumber omitted
leah_yamshon (Full email omitted)

I am in such a state..........
I have the jitters, tears, and a smile a mile wide

Thank you Rainy
Thank you Developers
Thank you Rainmeter Community

[MattKing]

Neat, I'm glad I helped push Rainmeter along.

[sgtevmckay]

E-mail pending discussion

[jsmorley]

I am completely opposed. PCWorld is a commercial enterprise and this CD is part of a marketing device and in fact in a sense is "sold" as it is only available to "paying subscribers" of the magazine.

Perfectly legal, and I completely hate it. It's not what open source is all about.

Sorry. Do what you like. I am probably a voice in the wilderness as the free (to us) publicity is very tempting.

[kenz0]

I can actually understand the thought of jsmorley. To be honest, I hite doing like "Draw the snake from its hole by another man's hand".

However, if we look at such as world of Linux, that's common sense.

Anyway I think we should consider user's happiness to top priority than the fidelity of the ideal of open source.
So if this invitation is riskress and lead to increased Rainmeter world, I never oppose it.

This is my opinion.

[Digi]

:partytimes: :partytimes: mi don't really care .. all that matter is rainmeter is getting the publicity it need and rightfully deserve..... \o/

[Alex2539]

While I see what JSMorley is getting at with allowing open source software to be distributed by a completely commercial venture, i don't think that it's really an issue. First and foremost, they aren't charging for the disc itself, so Rainmeter will remain free. While it is certainly going to be used as a tool to sell more magazines (because let's face it, that industry needs all the help it can get right now), it would not in itself be associated with PC World. It's just another app on a big disc full of them. It seems to me like it's really just free advertising for us. Also, to be frank it's a little flattering that they believe that Rainmeter is good enough to influence the sales of their magazine. Finally, if you head over to their website's downloads page and filter the list by OS, you'll see that there are quite a few Linux apps in there, The Gimp and OpenOffice.org to name a couple of big ones. If anyone knows OSS and it's philosophies, it would be the hardcore Linux users and developers. So I guess if they're OK with it, it an't be all bad, right?

Anyway, my concerns aren't with the "spirit of OSS" or the ethics of Rainmeter's distribution, but rather with the effect it's going to have on the community. PC World is a pretty major magazine. Having Rainmeter included would have an astronomical effect on the awareness of the program. One of the things I like about Rainmeter is its community. So far, it's been kept fairly small. It's grown a lot over the last year to be sure, but it's still mostly just the same group of people, some new additions and the occasional drop-ins from Lifehacker or, God forbid, 4chan, who have seen some pretty pictures and are interested in desktop customization. Putting Rainmeter out into the public eye would essentially open the floodgates for the casual user. There would be a major increase in the number of daily help requests, all coming from users who likely don't know their RAM from their ROM, all asking the same questions over and over, with the questions being of the most simplistic and tedious nature. I know we're here to help, but are we ready and able to provide that level of support?

I suppose the main upside is that there may be some talented folk out there who would otherwise never have looked twice at Rainmeter. If they decide it's worthwhile and stick with it, then maybe we could actually improve the community beyond having the same dozen people releasing the same few skins ad nauseum.

[Chewtoy]

As Alex says it is indeed a risk that we might be flooded. But that is the case with all publicity we get. Sure, those who heard about it from LH ought to be used to customizationsapps and not be too much of a "bother". And now we have a chance to show it to a new crowd, with new ways of thinking. A new crowd who "can't tell RAM from ROM".

I agree that it's flattering that they think it enough good of a software that it can help them sell more. Even though I don't like the reasons behind it, it's nice to see that they realize and acknowledge how good it is.
One other good thing with it being included is that we might spread the word of OSS. And THAT - I see absolutely nothing bad in.

But if we are going forward with this, we might want to set up some test of sorts for joining the forums if possible. Like, "Which part of the skin is used to draw information? A. Measure B. Meter C. Metadata D. Variables" or something. So you actually HAVE to read the manual or some part of it.

[Omardude]

I agree that this is in a moral gray area. However, as kenz0 pointed out:

I think we should consider user's happiness to top priority than the fidelity of the ideal of open source.

As for the fear of "getting flooded"; there will always be people that are to lazy to read the manual, and yes, their numbers could increase drastically. However, with a larger community there will also be those with great potential and persistence. When the storm settles, which of them will still be around?

As I see it only good can come from this. Rainmeter needs and deserves the awareness.

[gschoppe]

just a note: OSS doesn't mean software can't be sold... I mean, look at Canonical... they sell versions of Ubuntu with support and they sell Ubuntu CDs.

I'm not against this because everyone who buys disk bundled magazines is aware that all the software is free. They pay for the effort of finding and collecting the software, and for the articles that the magazine includes. I'm not against this, I just find no personal need for the service.

Finally, Under the GPL, they don't even need to ask us to do this, they can just package and sell it... OSS isn't about free, its about freedom... and we don't lose any of that by getting free advertising.


so, basically, I'm all for it.