LiveCode Forums.

I require some advice. I recently wrote a very simple application for studying. It basically unifies notes with media resources for emphasizing certain points. I only created it for personal use. It used material I did not own, so I had planned to abandon it afterwards. But my friend pressed me to submit it to the company who I borrowed resources from. I basically said, "Hey, I made this program, but I can't do anything with it because you technically own all the resources I used building it. Here you go. You can have it if you want it."

Well, I honestly did not expect to ever hear from them. They responded within a few days. Indeed, they are interested in my program, but they have a few concerns. Their main concern seems to be privacy. I think they want to be sure I'm not malevolent. To relinquish their fears, their engineers want the source code. I did my best trying to explain how I developed the application didn't really follow that model. But I told them I would do some research to get everything together. I offered to give them the actual resource files "program.rev" so they could compile it themselves using LiveCode. They will accept that if necessary, however, there is one more concern I was not sure how to resolve. They want to know about support. I know my program works on both my computers: Windows 7 and Mac 10.6.8. I've compiled both versions and tested them, but assuming this company offered my program as a download and it didn't work for someone for whatever reason. That's what they are asking me, and I'm not sure how to answer it. Any ideas?

Hi sanoski,
Congratulations

I had a similar request, they wanted to be safe(sure) that there was no spyware. I gave the source code in file text and they were able to see that there was no spyware

Best regards

Jean-Marc

jmburnod wrote:Hi sanoski,
Congratulations

I had a similar request, they wanted to be safe(sure) that there was no spyware. I gave the source code in file text and they were able to see that there was no spyware

Best regards

Jean-Marc

Thanks for the advice, jmburnod. I'm not sure what to tell them about support, though. Everything should work on the systems I compiled standalones for. I don't know what else to say. I can't think of any reason why my program just wouldn't work when downloaded. So their last question simply perplexes me. How do I troubleshoot unknown nonexistent hypothetical issues? All I could think to say was to be sure their system was up to date.

Maybe the question they are asking is "Will YOU support this?".

Support is always hypothetical issues until the first phone call or email. Then it doesn't stop. And most of the issues that pop up, beyond the RTFM type, are unexpected and outside the application envelope you anticipated.

Have fun! If you get to the point you need a WW developer support and training organization setup fast, let me know

Walt

Thank you, Walt. I will definitely keep that in mind. They must think my program is much more complex than it really is, though. There's not much to it, honestly. The only necessary resource is SQlite, which should be bundled with the standalones as specified in the output settings. Regardless though, I'm still relatively new to LiveCode. It's very different from virtually everything I've used before. Everything just seems to work without much effort on my part. A lot is going on under the hood, though. That inevitably means high degrees of abstraction. And so I think the only way to troubleshoot would be to accept the responsibility myself. Until then it would be hard to give them a go to list for people having common problems that currently do not exist. Thanks again for your help, everyone

Hi sanoski,

I think the level of support you offer (if any) depends on how the company take over the product and whether they supply this as a free or paid for application.

How you proceed will also depend on if the company purchase LiveCode and compile your source code or if you supply the final compiled app.

What happens to any agreement you make if their engineers modify your code? ... This will happen at some time!

You have to be very careful that you do not leave yourself open to any legal comeback that may arise from the companie's clients.

In the end whether the company modifies and compiles your code or if they supply your finished app the following applies:

The company is responsible as they are the supplier to their clients.
You then support the company: you are their supplier.
This gives you distance from the end user.

Whatever you end up supplying you need to state the systems and configurations that your app has been tested on and that what you supply has been scanned for viruses and malware. Most anti-virus progs will allow you to copy the results of a scan which you can supply with your app. You also need to state quite firmly that these tests are valid only as and when you hand over the code/app and that you cannot be held liable to any damage or infections once you have supplied the product.

Have a look at licience terms on other software and you will see this is a common statement.

It's a lot to think about but you need to work through all scenarios to protect yourself.

Oh and well done for getting a LiveCode app out there!

As previous posters have said, you should be careful with support. If you offer your application for free, I suggest to not offer any support, and tell your 'partners' that they should not offer any support either. Especially if this is about a much frequented website. The reason is simple: Support costs a lot of time, and therefore a lot of money and effort. So if your app is distributed or offered to a lot of people, support will eat you up.

An alternative would be paid support. If you suddenly have thousand of people install your free software, then you will be forced to suddenly solve everyones problem, which you can't. Depending on volume of installation and how computer literate the 'customers' are, asking money per question/incident might be the way to go.

Have a look at section 7 of the LiveCode licence. It (apart from section a) basically says "sorry mate...but you cannot hold us responsible!"

7. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY


a) THE TOTAL LIABILITY WHICH RUNREV OWES TO YOU IN RESPECT OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE SHALL, OTHER THAN IN CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH SUCH ACTS RESULT IN DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY IN WHICH CASE LIABILITY SHALL BE UNLIMITED, BE LIMITED TO THE SUM OF £1000 IN RESPECT OF ANY ONE CLAIM OR AGGREGATE OF CLAIMS ARISING IN ANY TWELVE MONTH PERIOD;

b) THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION AND REVOLUTION ONLINE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, RUNREV FURTHER DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF ANY THIRD PARTY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS;

c) THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION AND REVOLUTION ONLINE SERVICE REMAINS WITH YOU. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL RUNREV BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT, EVEN IF RUNREV HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES;

Wow, this is great information! Thanks a lot for all of your help.