[sword-devel] Selling Sword Modules

[John Gardner]

Nice Post.  As Christ was wont to do, a good illustration is capable of
saying a lot.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-sword-devel@crosswire.org
> [mailto:owner-sword-devel@crosswire.org]On Behalf Of Don A. Elbourne Jr.
> Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 9:56 AM
> To: sword-devel@crosswire.org
> Subject: [sword-devel] Selling Sword Modules
>
>
> Lets suppose the Sword project received an inquiry such as the one below.
> What would the response be? Would the Sword Project be able to help?
>
> -------
>
> Dear Sword Project
>
> I am the president of a small publishing company that produces
> material for
> the Christian market. For the past 5 years we have been working
> with some of
> today's leading evangelical scholars to produce a commentary series on the
> whole Bible. We are about 6 months from completing this project and are
> considering distribution possibilities other than standard print. We have
> approached the major Bible software makers, but have come to the
> conclusion
> that the initial financial commitment is cost prohibitive. then we heard
> about The Sword Project and your free Bible software package.
>
> We would like to speak to you about making our commentary series, and
> perhaps some of our other previously published material, available in the
> Sword Project format. We see that all of your material is currently in the
> public domain and without cost. We applaud your efforts and wish that we
> could distribute our material for free, however in order for us to recoup
> the costs incurred with such a large project, and to finance subsequent
> projects we have decided to charge a nominal fee for our digital material.
> Would our selling of Sword Modules be incongruent with your mission
> statement? Would it be possible to bundle our purchasable modules
> with your
> free modules and free software?
>
> We envision two modes of digital delivery.  The first would be via our
> forthcoming web site. We would like customers to be able to
> download locked
> modules from our site and purchase an unlock key. Is their currently a
> mechanism in place for Sword modules to be unlocked after authorization?
>
> The second delivery method would be a full package CD ROM containing our
> material, the Sword software, and as much free public domain
> material as can
> fit on the CD. Our main concern with this is software piracy.
> Unfortunately,
> dealing with Christian material does not preclude the possibility
> of piracy.
> We are familiar enough with the software industry to know that there is no
> feasible way to squelch unauthorized copying altogether. All we would want
> is some sort of mechanism that would deter easy copying of the material.
> Some sort of customer code registration tied into the software would
> probably be adequate. CDs would be available through direct mail-order and
> in Christian Book stores throughout the United States.
>
> We look forward to your reply.
>
> for the cause of Christ,
>
> Joe B. Publisher
>
> ------------------------
>
> I think I got a little carried away with that role playing. lol Basically,
> what would the Sword Project say to someone like this? Is there a way for
> him to sell his locked modules? How would he go about locking the modules,
> distributing the keys, tracking customers, and preventing piracy?
> Are these
> things possible with Sword? do they go against the mission
> statement. Would
> his plans conflict with the current Sword license?
>
> by grace alone,
>
> Don A. Elbourne Jr.
> http://elbourne.org
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