Free Web Sites and the Misconceptions of Free Code

By–James R. Sanders
Bio–whiteknight0571
Homepage–Sanders Consultation Group Plus

How many times have you been by a coder's site and seen that donation box sitting prominently displayed on the page? Have you ever wondered why it's there? I mean, after all, most times we see it; it does reside on a free site doesn't it? So what is it there for when the site is free? While you sit there reading and answering these questions in your mind, I have a few more for you to answer while you're at it.

We live in a fast paced, busy society. With the global implication of technology and the instant gratitude we get from pressing a button, there just never seems to be enough time in a day to get the things done we need to do. We all have to provide for our loved ones, and we all choose different ways of doing so. Some work jobs, and some work jobs and do sideline work, while still others work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. For coders, many times, that sideline work is code development on free sites.

What Kind of Work Really Goes Into Code?

When was the last time you went to a free site and even wondered about the amount of time it takes that coder to develop the free code, or the time it takes them to continue to develop it and keep it stable? Would you agree that this time is time they can't spend with their loved ones, or time they can't spend doing other things in their life? Would you also agree this is time they gave so you didn't have to give of your own time? Would you then also agree that this is time and a service that they have provided to you, and have left the payment totally up to you through a donation box? Never had the time to think of it that way, did you?

Lots of Files & Lots of Hours

With software, many of the questions are incomprehensible if you are not a software designer, but web site code is very different. You can download the code and count, the sometimes, hundreds or thousands of files they had to write in order to provide the code you are using. Take for instance PHPNuke code. The distribution of PHPNuke 7.5 includes 2,680 files and 178 folders. How many hours do you think it took to develop all of those files? Here is another example; Chatserv's PHPNuke patches. A distribution of Chatserv's PHPNuke 7.5 patches contains 316 files and 17 folders. How long do you think it took him to go through all of the PHPNuke 7.5 files, 2,680 files total, to find the ones that needed editing, and then how long do you think it took him to edit those files? Maybe you need a couple more examples. Raven's KISGB 536 files and 10 folders, Nuke Sentinel 93 files and 21 folders, NukeC 116 files and 15 folders, Nuke Amazon Module 65 files and 25 folders, and OSC2Nuke 6,755 files and 438 folders. Now imagine one of these developers sitting behind their computer monitor doing this work. Am I starting to help you draw a vivid picture?

Thousands of Lines & Lots of Hours

Let's forget a moment about the sheer numbers of files involved here. Have you ever opened up a php file in an editor? Did you realize that each one of these files has 100's or even 1000's of lines of code in them? In addition, that's only 1 php file, let alone 100 php files. Let's do the math, 100 php files times 100 lines of code equals 10,000 lines of code they had to write. How would you like to write 10,000 sentences and not get anything in return for it? Moreover, this doesn't even take into consideration the hours spent in graphic design to provide the images that go with these files. People, we are talking about days and weeks worth of work to bring you the files that you use. If you write HTML code, which is nowhere near as advanced and complicated as PHP, then you know how long it takes you to write an HTML page, and I'd estimate that it takes about two to three times longer to write a PHP page. If you do write PHP, CGI, ASP, or PERL codes, then you have more an idea of the time these authors contribute to that code you use.

How do we Benefit From Free Code?

What do you use the code for? How many of you use these files to make money from your own website as your chosen sideline work? I'll bet there are many of you, and you do it as a means to help provide for your loved ones. You do it for the same reasons that these developers do. If your loved ones are benefiting because of the money you are making from the code, then why are the developer's loved ones not benefiting from the code they gave you to help you support those loved ones. What happens when you continue to take from these developers without giving anything in return, and they stop developing the code you use because of it? PHP and server side code is constantly changing and upgrading. If you fail to support these developers, you will eventually lack stable code to achieve your goals. Then what will you do as a means to help support your loved ones?

Bad Things that Happen when we don't Support the Code

I've seen it many times. The NukeC site is an example, and other sites like Portedmods, and the others who've shut their doors because of our failure to reward the developers for the hard work they give to us. With the NukeC site, the developer just seemed to walk away from the code for months on end. He had no incentive to continue to support code that was taking more and more of his free time away without providing him income so he didn't have to work other jobs. With Portedmods, we got lucky, and Raven has taken that site over. Nevertheless, how many others have you seen whither and die by the wayside simply because everyone took the code, but nobody seemed to donate to support it?

Other Developers Costs for Free Code - Domain Name
Registration, Bandwidth, Hosting, & Storage

Through now, I've only covered the amount of time investment it takes to bring you code, but I haven't even touched on the hidden costs associated with bringing you that code. If you have registered your own domain and pay for hosting, then you already have an idea what hosting and bandwidth costs. For those not having 500K visitors a month, you have no idea how much bandwidth costs, you really need to think about it, and the visitor statement doesn't even cover download bandwidth. Page view bandwidth is usually much smaller than download bandwidth because the files for page views are smaller. A larger site with 500K visitors can watch bandwidth costs skyrocket depending on the amount of downloads their users are initiating. So now not only does it cost the developer time in providing you these files, but now it also costs him money in hosting fees, domain name registration, bandwidth charges, and the additional page views and forum moderation time to provide support for these files.

Failure to Donate and what it Causes

Bottom line, without donations, what incentive does a developer have to really continue to develop and support the code? They've already bent over backwards to deliver it to you and allow you to pay them what you think its worth to them. They've made it readily available to all without restrictions or putting a price tag on it that you might not be able to afford. What more can they do to bring you the files you use and let you make all the decisions when it comes to usage and price? In my opinion, the coders with donation blocks on their sites, without charging a specific price for their code, are the truly noble people of the Internet. However, how many of you take advantage of these noble people on a daily basis and take from their loved ones by failing to donate to the code development?

Another problem exists. How many sites do you know of that have moved from a donation box to a paid only code delivery system? It kills me when I hear people complaining about site xyz because they aren't able to get the free code anymore, and they never bothered to donate to the effort to begin with. As matter of fact, that is my first question to them, "Have you donated to the code". The normal reply "No". I then have to ask these people "Did you ever think that the reason they went to a paid code delivery system is because of people like you who didn't donate to the code?" What, they are supposed to give you the code free plus pay all the costs to deliver it to you? If you are one of these people, then how arrogant and unthoughtful can you be? Sorry to be blunt people, but this is exactly the way that many of you come across when looking for code to provide a solution for your web site.

Dispelling the Myths behind Free Code - The Realities

Although free code is free, there are misconceptions to that assumption. The code is free to modify and use, but that doesn't mean that the developers are not looking for some support to advance that code. In addition, support to advance code comes through making donations to reward the developer for their work, and give them an incentive to continue developing their code. I'll use my company as an example, Sanders Consultation Group Plus. Lately, we have been doing installations of PHPNuke/OSC2nuke related code for our customers. In one of our installs, we told the customer that they would need to donate to osc2nuke and NukeC for the modules and code we were using on their site. In doing so, NukeC module creator Sudirman Agriawan personally made code edits to make the module functional for a PHPNuke 7.5 based site. In doing so, he now offers that code as a beta3 release on the NukeC site. Although my customer paid for the files, everyone else now gets those files for free. Maybe in a few more months, I might need NukeC files, and maybe someone else will donate, before then, making better files available to me. At that time, for personal use, maybe I will get some free files, but someone else paid to help advance those files. That is the way it works people. However, the problem is, most people always let it for the other person to do, and when you do that, nobody does. It's up to you how the code develops, and you can help it along with donations.

I feel it is time to bring my babbling to an end. In addition, in that end, I leave you with this. Would you create 1,000 of anything, offer it for free, and really expect not to get something in return for it? How would you feel if you provided these 1,000 things, paid to deliver them, and then nobody even as much as thanked you with a donation for it? And further, how would you feel if you did this simply to make it available to anyone who needed it, and still most people were so arrogant to expect you to cover all the costs plus give them your hard work for free? Would you continue to give of yourself or would you finally close your doors, or put a price tag on it before they could get it? It's simple people. Donate to the code and give the developers an incentive to advance it and keep it stable. Refuse to do so and you will lose access to the code or have to continually complain because it doesn't work.

Donation Etiquette:

Here are some brief guidelines to help you figure out when it is, or when it is not, expected, and how much you should donate.

When or when not to donate:

Questions to ask to determine if, or when, you should donate:

1. Are you using the code to make money for yourself?
2. It's NOT producing an income yet?
3. It IS producing an income?

If you answered yes to questions 1 and 3, then a donation is in order. It doesn't have to be a big one if you aren't making a killing online, but if you're seeing a profit, then it's only fair that some of that profit should go to those who helped you to make it. See the donation amount guidelines below.

If you answered yes to questions 1 and 2, then maybe now isn't the time to make that donation. I don't think that there's a developer out there that is going to expect you to make a donation when you aren't even making money off their code. For now, it is OK to wait until you can answer yes to questions 1 and 3, and then at that point, donate accordingly. The donation is the same as the one stated in the last paragraph. It should be proportional to what you are making because of it, and it should be what you think the code is worth. See the donation amount guidelines below.

Donation Amount Guidelines:

Remember, at the least, it takes twice as long to write a PHP, ASP, CGI, or PERL file as it does an HTML one. To be safe, figure that any file of at least 100 lines takes at least half an hour if written from scratch. You can figure, based on that guideline, about 2 files per hour. You can then look at the number of files, divide by two, and you have an idea of how many hours were spent on the code you chose to use.

Now that you've identified the number of hours the developer just GAVE to you, you can start to ask yourself a couple of questions. The first one is, how much money am I making from these files? The next question is, how much would I expect to be paid if I worked that number of hours? Based upon the answers to these questions, you can use some logic and reason to come up with an amount. You should also consider whether or not the developer gave you support for that code too. Of course, if the developer has posted a donation amount on their web site, then you only need to decide if that amount seems reasonable to you. There is no real science to this, and it's based more upon the person using the code than it is the developer. It is a case and situation where common sense and decency must rule.

In the end, no matter what means you use to arrive at the donation amount, as long as you always take the developers work into account and learn to appreciate that work, then you will donate responsibly. In the end, what's most important is that you donate. It helps all of us. The developer continues to have an incentive to develop and improve the code, and we'll always have code that works.

About the Author:
James R. Sanders is the owner of Sanders Consultation Group Plus . He has been a webmaster and web site designer since 1997, and involved in self-employment ventures since 1992. He is presently a contributing author of NewbieHangout, and has been published through WebProNews. His goal is to provide practical information based upon his years of experience to help webmasters, web site designers, and self-employed people achieve their goals in today's competitive global market. You can email him at webmaster@sanders-consultation-group-plus.com.

By James R. Sanders aka whiteknight0571


Sanders Consultation Group Plus

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Published on: 2005-03-14 (5997 reads)