Hallo "simple user" ;-)
Thank you for submitting the first post, and the compliments!
I am (no more) a real technical person neither; that’s left to Florian ;-)
But I hope I can help answering your questions nevertheless...
The term
"commercial" creates the confusion. We (or better "people) use it to differentiate between an open source (GPL licensed) version and a non open source version. In our caseMegaZine3 (under GPL license) and MZ3, the pageflip engine we license under our own conditions.
This does NOT mean that for commercial use you always need the commercial version!
Confusing, isn't it?
Let me try to explain, using the names
MegaZine3 for the
free version, and
MZ3 for the version we
charge for:
1.
MegaZine3 If you simply use the package AS IS, i.e. as it comes with the ZIP file (the Binaries), you can create as many eBooks as you want without paying for it!
You build specific megazine.xml files for each eBook, and distribute those to your customers, bundled with the unchanged Binaries of
MegaZine3 .
As long as you only use the features provided by MegaZine3, you are all set with the GPL version
MegaZine3 .
You even can charge for your work, i.e. building the megazine.xml files and package them together with the Binaries of
MegaZine3 .
You need a server that gives access to the Binaries of
MegaZine3 and your megazine.xml files, so everybody can enjoy the eBooks. No additional software is needed!
A flash player (version 9) then presents your eBooks “interpreting” your megazine.xml files with the help of the
MegaZine3 engine.
The flash player loads whatever files are needed from the server (provided by the MegaZine3 Binaries package).
Even if the purpose of the eBook is totally “commercial” in nature, like a catalogue with a company’s products, we do not charge and it is OK to use the open source version
MegaZine3 .
Technically speaking you simply use the
MegaZine3 engine AS IS to convert your input (your megazine.xml file) into another kind of output, which a flash player understands and at the end presents on the monitor.
2.
MZ3 BUT… If you want or have to make changes to the Sources, and/or embed the engine into a solution you build, modifying the Sources, adding software you wrote or combine /link it with other “commercial” (i.e. NOT licensed under GPL ) software – then you need the
MZ3 version.
And have to pay for it
I understand
you do not intend doing so as a “simple user”, which means:
Feel free to use MegaZine3 for free!Hopefully this helps a bit…
