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the legality of selling plugins?

by atvking
6 replies
Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but im wondering if, for example, I wanted to develop and sell a plug-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer would I have to ask for some sort of permission from Microsoft?

Thanks for any information. Alex
#legality #plugins #selling
  • Profile picture of the author atvking
    bump to the top...does anybody know?
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Generally, unless you are using special code provided by them, you DON'T have to ask. On the contrary, if your plugin is good and useful, you might WANT to tell them, as they may advertise them for you. It makes their product more usable.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author milo_pl
    Wow..I didn't even realize that here are paid plugins for IE. Is there any market in that? I mean all of the plugins for Firefox are free, and most for IE and other browsers.
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    • Profile picture of the author atvking
      Originally Posted by milo_pl View Post

      Wow..I didn't even realize that here are paid plugins for IE. Is there any market in that? I mean all of the plugins for Firefox are free, and most for IE and other browsers.

      My product is very complex and amongst other features it has a unique IE plug in. So it will not be sold as a stand alone plug in but as a part of something else. I was just curious as to what kind of permission i may need to develop a plug in for a Microsoft product. Asked on another forum they basically gave me the same answer to the tune of: if its already installed on the computer (as IE is on all) then its no problem its like creating a paid screensaver or anything else.

      Just wanted to make sure. Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by atvking View Post

        they basically gave me the same answer to the tune of: if its already installed on the computer (as IE is on all) then its no problem its like creating a paid screensaver or anything else.

        Not ENTIRELY true. Some SDKs you have to pay for, and or, pay a royalty of some sort. It is almost like VB in that respect. With VB, if you could figure out how to use the libraries, it is probably fair game, even though technically illegal because most licenses forbid you to reverse engineer. They have standard, and academic, versions that allows you the license to create it for your OWN use. OTHERWISE, you are allowed to resell.

        Those companies always wanted more than most would pay, so they created a lot of different licensing schemes. HECK, look at the old compress and gif fiascos!

        The GIF Controversy: A Software Developer's Perspective (lzw.info)

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author SageSound
    It's just another channel. Whether it's free or fee-based, that's up to you.

    In January, there were 4200 plugins listed on the Wordpress site. Today, early March, there are nearly 8500. And I'm getting an increasing number of offers for commercial plugins as people are figuring out how to split them between a "free" and "Pro" version.

    -David
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