Rex Barkdoll wrote:
Also, to those of you with frustration over the branding, we are living in an age of transition. Those that came before us have a different understanding of Copyright than we do. Theirs is one of atoms and scarcity, where making something and producing it took blood, sweat, and tears and where there is a real, cost associated with each product.
Ours is a generation of abundance where everything is cheap and perceived value is little because the price is so low. When you make a product for a customer, don't you require attribution and payment? Don't you want them to link back to you somehow and drive more traffic and business to you? Rocket Theme and Gantry are simply doing the same thing.
However true that might be, that paradigm doesn't apply directly to this issue. Your dime store philosophy is a little off-base. The issue here, as I see it, is proprietary vs. open source. Joomla! is open source, distributed under the GNU GPL. Modifications are not only allowed but encouraged. Basically there are two rules, don't remove the copyright header from the scripts and don't redistribute as your own. There is a big difference between customizing and redistribution. I don't want to redistribute, resell or re-brand but I do want to customize as I see fit. It is perfectly acceptable to use a Joomla! build and completely strip all of the branding out of the final site. That is my right granted under this license. Why? Because it is my website! Its my decision.
I don't see anywhere that my view violates any license.RT's Terms wrote:
5. Modifications:
You are authorized to make any necessary modification(s) to our products to fit your purposes. You may not however redistribute or release non-GPL portions of the templates as GPL or otherwise. You must also not change or remove the copyright information in the header of the xml descriptor file. You may however remove our copyright from the footer of the templates if needed.
RocketTheme Proprietary Use License wrote:
These images, cascading style sheets and JavaScript elements are copyright RocketTheme and can be used and manipulated for your own or your clients purposes.
www.rockettheme.com/joomla-club-details#terms
If I bought a new BMW I could bring it home and strip the dealer stickers and license plate frame off. I could remove all the logos from the car. I could paint polka-dots on it if I wanted. I paid for the car (template) and I continue to pay maintenance(forum support). I might get some funny looks but I would never be chastised for not giving BMW their due credit. Now if I replaced all the BMW logos with Conan logos and resold the car, claiming to have built it myself... that is an obvious problem.
Joomla! benefits from the fact that it is open source by appealing to a huge end-user audience and a large developer pool. Rockettheme benefits handsomely from Joomla's broad userbase. If the Joomla! team decides to morph to a proprietary license that would be their decision, but they haven't. If Rockettheme decides to engineer their own proprietary CMS (I have openly asked if this is their long-term goal. No response.) that would be their right, but they haven't. Apparently it is a better plan to leverage your superiority in design and community to high-jack the platform with a proprietary "framework".
I think we need to remember where we are. The street we live on may be Rockettheme but the city is Joomla! It is troubling to be gang-tackled every time I speak up but it doesn't change my mind in the least. I am very thankful for Joomla! Thankful and protective. I would guess that most of us here feel the same way. Instead of asking me why I "feel that having Gantry or Rocket Theme branding on your site is a negative", why not ask why it is mandatory in the first place? Instead of accusing me of "wanting to be a superwoman and appearing as though I'm magically able to make something so magnificent" why not ask RT what the real motivation for Gantry is?
Rex Barkdoll wrote:
If you want to get paid to make templates, then go make your templates
I have made my own templates. Always on a job-by-job basis, I have never "sold" a template, but if I did it would never cross my mind to force the person who paid me to continue to display my branding. What sense does that make? You paid me, thank you... now go use it, enjoy, modify, tinker... just don't claim that you built it or resell it yours. But if your end use requires a brand-free site, then by all means, go ahead.
Joomla! is why we are all here. Joomla! is a community, just as these RT forums are. In a community all the voices are important. Sometimes a lone voice of dissent is much more important than the majority's chorus of praise. Without Joomla! there would never have been a Rockettheme. We should remember that. prin should remember that when he feels compelled to clarify how man-hours are spent. RT should remember that when they are delaying J16 template updates so that they can make sure Gantry ports properly.
Because... I also found this when I was reading RT's terms.7. Updates:
All templates are always designed for the latest version of the software they are designed for, but we can give no guarantee that the templates will run with previous versions of those platforms. Members may use the forums to address any issues related to software versions.
The "latest version of the software" is 1.6 and March 1st is 12 days away.