I thought this was open source, but where is the code?
Why does the installer from camstudio.org website have tons of adware, but the version here doesn't (at least it doesn't tell about it)? Why DOES it have adware if it's open source?
How is the project owner not a programmer but collects donations? For what and for who?
Why are there two separate forums, both here and on camstudio.org?
Links to "streaming video services" which don't work..
To me, everything about Camstudio screams "stay away". If there truly is good intentions behind this, I suggest the owner makes it clear by explaining the status of the project and the reasons for including adware. Otherwise the one star ratings will keep on coming, and for a good reason.
I hope this thread won't be deleted, I'm just telling my honest opinion and hope that Camstudio keeps getting better.
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Build r316 is the last version of CamStudio that does not include the ad-supported installer and is left here for people to download.
The reason for the ad-support installer is simple - after 7 years of supporting this software myself and in almost every case, putting my own hands into my own pockets to pay for extra features and bugs to be fixed I've decided that for CamStudio to truly grow into the software it should have been by now, that I have to generate revenue so I can pay professional programmers to work on CS.
Coding help from volunteers has been wonderful over the years and I've been incredibly grateful for all the support I've had, but work needs to be done consistently and for that I need to have a programmer around all the time and that takes money.
Any donations received go towards the cost of maintaining the camstudio.org website, which costs around $200/month because it has to be on a VPS because of the large number of visitors- regular shared hosting isn't good enough)
So to be clear, you're saying that in order to be in control of project you HAVE to be a programmer? Who says?
Well, when I put CamStudio.org online, set up the SourceForge project, dug up the original 2.0 source code and binaries something like 3 years had already passed from its release. How much longer might it have been if I hadn't done anything? Maybe the next day? Maybe never? How many C++ programmers had seen it and done nothing? Who knows?
Apologies if this sounds like I'm getting a bit defensive here, it's because I am.
I realize people don't like the ad-installer. I get it, I really do.
However, no other software is installed on a user's machine without their permission and nobody is forced to install any other software as part of the installation process - all you have to do is select not to install it and it continues as usual.
The cold, hard truth is, to make CamStudio the best it can be takes money and the donations (welcome as they are) isn't enough.
If the majority of people can't or won't donate anything they sure won't pay $xx for CamStudio either. People want it to be free (fair enough) and I need money to pay for improvements, so ... the ad-installer seems to be the best way forward for now at least. (Assuming I don't win the lottery)
Hope that's clearer
Cheers
Nick
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Then I suggest you stay away. Any project is free to act in the manner it feels is appropriate. They are free to ask for donations and do anything they want with them. If you don't like what they do, then don't use the software and don't make a donation.
For someone with such high flying ideals about what open source is or is not, should be or should not be I'm surprised to discover that you don't actually have any open source projects.
I'd suggest you come back when you have some actual open source experience besides downloading cool free stuff and complaining about how the people who make it available manage their projects.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
For to long there were to less people available who could program and had time enough to do so. Due to the longstanding development history the code is not always very clear. It just takes a lot of time and pain to get used to the code and to be able to follow the code. Without payments other things required to make a living comes first.
The problems we had (still have) with the pixels on the edge shows that CS need a developer who is 'free' to work on CS when required.
@Nick, you showed me once how many donations you received. Lets hope that that will improve soon. Till then, raising funds with adware seems the only logical way to get CS further.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Thanks for the answers, Nick. My only real complaint was that the page seemed a bit.. well, shady - and that's only because there's (in my opinion, and seeing the 1 star ratings..) not enough easily noticeable information about what's going on. After your post, it's all much clearer now.
In fact, I have used CamStudio in the past and even suggested it to others. I guess I was just a bit shocked to see the adware.
And no I don't mean you have to be a programmer to run a project. I was just wondering the correlation between donations and development. The fact that no one can directly see where the donations go, might put some people off. If the project leader is also the developer, it would be a no brainer. In this situation, the possible donor might think much harder if they should donate or not.
I suggest this information should be the first thing anyone sees:
- you are the project leader
- the development is supported by the included adware, which can be skipped during installation
- all donations go to the development, through you
- roadmap to see where the donations are going
But then again maybe there isn't any problem. Like I said, this was just my impression. I didn't mean to undermine your work.
Oh and, happy new year :)
Last edit: SourceBoot 2013-12-31
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when I try to download by running git clone it says it is empty project
C:>git clone http://git.code.sf.net/p/camstudio/code camstudio-code
Cloning into 'camstudio-code'...
warning: You appear to have cloned an empty repository.
Checking connectivity... done.
how do I fix it?
Thanks
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I thought this was open source, but where is the code?
Why does the installer from camstudio.org website have tons of adware, but the version here doesn't (at least it doesn't tell about it)? Why DOES it have adware if it's open source?
How is the project owner not a programmer but collects donations? For what and for who?
Why are there two separate forums, both here and on camstudio.org?
Links to "streaming video services" which don't work..
To me, everything about Camstudio screams "stay away". If there truly is good intentions behind this, I suggest the owner makes it clear by explaining the status of the project and the reasons for including adware. Otherwise the one star ratings will keep on coming, and for a good reason.
I hope this thread won't be deleted, I'm just telling my honest opinion and hope that Camstudio keeps getting better.
SourceBoot, thanks for the comms ...
CamStudio 2.x is and always will be GPL open source.
The full source code for CamStudio (v2.7.3 I believe) is hosted on SourceForge:
https://sourceforge.net/p/camstudio/code/
Build r316 is the last version of CamStudio that does not include the ad-supported installer and is left here for people to download.
The reason for the ad-support installer is simple - after 7 years of supporting this software myself and in almost every case, putting my own hands into my own pockets to pay for extra features and bugs to be fixed I've decided that for CamStudio to truly grow into the software it should have been by now, that I have to generate revenue so I can pay professional programmers to work on CS.
Coding help from volunteers has been wonderful over the years and I've been incredibly grateful for all the support I've had, but work needs to be done consistently and for that I need to have a programmer around all the time and that takes money.
Any donations received go towards the cost of maintaining the camstudio.org website, which costs around $200/month because it has to be on a VPS because of the large number of visitors- regular shared hosting isn't good enough)
So to be clear, you're saying that in order to be in control of project you HAVE to be a programmer? Who says?
Well, when I put CamStudio.org online, set up the SourceForge project, dug up the original 2.0 source code and binaries something like 3 years had already passed from its release. How much longer might it have been if I hadn't done anything? Maybe the next day? Maybe never? How many C++ programmers had seen it and done nothing? Who knows?
Apologies if this sounds like I'm getting a bit defensive here, it's because I am.
I realize people don't like the ad-installer. I get it, I really do.
However, no other software is installed on a user's machine without their permission and nobody is forced to install any other software as part of the installation process - all you have to do is select not to install it and it continues as usual.
The cold, hard truth is, to make CamStudio the best it can be takes money and the donations (welcome as they are) isn't enough.
If the majority of people can't or won't donate anything they sure won't pay $xx for CamStudio either. People want it to be free (fair enough) and I need money to pay for improvements, so ... the ad-installer seems to be the best way forward for now at least. (Assuming I don't win the lottery)
Hope that's clearer
Cheers
Nick
Then I suggest you stay away. Any project is free to act in the manner it feels is appropriate. They are free to ask for donations and do anything they want with them. If you don't like what they do, then don't use the software and don't make a donation.
For someone with such high flying ideals about what open source is or is not, should be or should not be I'm surprised to discover that you don't actually have any open source projects.
I'd suggest you come back when you have some actual open source experience besides downloading cool free stuff and complaining about how the people who make it available manage their projects.
I agree with Nick.
For to long there were to less people available who could program and had time enough to do so. Due to the longstanding development history the code is not always very clear. It just takes a lot of time and pain to get used to the code and to be able to follow the code. Without payments other things required to make a living comes first.
The problems we had (still have) with the pixels on the edge shows that CS need a developer who is 'free' to work on CS when required.
@Nick, you showed me once how many donations you received. Lets hope that that will improve soon. Till then, raising funds with adware seems the only logical way to get CS further.
Thanks for the answers, Nick. My only real complaint was that the page seemed a bit.. well, shady - and that's only because there's (in my opinion, and seeing the 1 star ratings..) not enough easily noticeable information about what's going on. After your post, it's all much clearer now.
In fact, I have used CamStudio in the past and even suggested it to others. I guess I was just a bit shocked to see the adware.
And no I don't mean you have to be a programmer to run a project. I was just wondering the correlation between donations and development. The fact that no one can directly see where the donations go, might put some people off. If the project leader is also the developer, it would be a no brainer. In this situation, the possible donor might think much harder if they should donate or not.
I suggest this information should be the first thing anyone sees:
- you are the project leader
- the development is supported by the included adware, which can be skipped during installation
- all donations go to the development, through you
- roadmap to see where the donations are going
But then again maybe there isn't any problem. Like I said, this was just my impression. I didn't mean to undermine your work.
Oh and, happy new year :)
Last edit: SourceBoot 2013-12-31
when I try to download by running git clone it says it is empty project
C:>git clone http://git.code.sf.net/p/camstudio/code camstudio-code
Cloning into 'camstudio-code'...
warning: You appear to have cloned an empty repository.
Checking connectivity... done.
how do I fix it?
Thanks
The source code is in a mercurial repository at https://sourceforge.net/p/camstudio/mercurial