Source too big for the free version

[JLThompson999]

Hello all,

I just downloaded the free version and started converting on old program to work with PureBasic. Once I hit 782 lines, I started getting a "Source too big for the free version." error. Is 782 lines seriously all you get with the free version, or is something wrong here?

[useful]

When you start the IDE, you see a window with a message:
...
Free version limitations:
- No DLL creation
- Code size limitation (about 800 lines)
...

[Quin]

800 is more than reasonable IMO, more then enough to write some small-ish programs and determine if you like PB or not.

[DarkDragon]

And if you really look at the price, even the full version is basically free: 79€ is about a few packs of mac'n'cheese or cereals, but the product contains years of development and less chemicals.

[moricode]

And if you really look at the price, even the full version is basically free: 79€ is about a few packs of mac'n'cheese or cereals, but the product contains years of development and less chemicals.

Micro$oft have a different pricing policy for Asian / third word countries , like india, vietnam, Thailand, Philippine, malaysia, , indonesia, sirilanka, japan,singapore and so on...

the average monthly income for the people there maybe less than 100~200€ ,
a 79€ maybe difficult for them to save up for many years, they will look for alternative is couldn't afford.

[moricode]

a 1000 lines limitation is sound better , not too big , not too small , and a good number . just few line more than 800 lines

[Quin]

Maybe, but then how long until someone complains that's not enough?

a 1000 lines limitation is sound better , not too big , not too small , and a good number . just few line more than 800 lines

[DarkDragon]

And if you really look at the price, even the full version is basically free: 79€ is about a few packs of mac'n'cheese or cereals, but the product contains years of development and less chemicals.

Micro$oft have a different pricing policy for Asian / third word countries , like india, vietnam, Thailand, Philippine, malaysia, , indonesia, sirilanka, japan,singapore and so on...

the average monthly income for the people there maybe less than 100~200€ ,
a 79€ maybe difficult for them to save up for many years, they will look for alternative is couldn't afford.

Do they have money for a computer at all then? Is PureBasic being sold there? You basically need a company in every country you're selling to end users and do your tax there. European Union has MOSS to unify income tax, but when selling outside you have to respect the corresponding laws and treaties. I doubt Fred does this world wide and is there still a publisher involved?

[Little John]

Maybe, but then how long until someone complains that's not enough?

a 1000 lines limitation is sound better , not too big , not too small , and a good number . just few line more than 800 lines

Code: Select all

Define newLimit, oldLimit = 800

Repeat
   newLimit = oldLimit + 200
   Debug "A limit of " + newLimit + " lines is better than a limit of " + oldLimit + " lines."
   oldLimit = newLimit
ForEver

[skywalk]

And if you really look at the price, even the full version is basically free: 79€ is about a few packs of mac'n'cheese or cereals, but the product contains years of development and less chemicals.

Micro$oft have a different pricing policy for Asian / third word countries , like india, vietnam, Thailand, Philippine, malaysia, , indonesia, sirilanka, japan,singapore and so on...

the average monthly income for the people there maybe less than 100~200€ ,
a 79€ maybe difficult for them to save up for many years, they will look for alternative is couldn't afford.

I don't understand your point?
You want pricing like Japan or Sri Lanka?
Ultimately, this is a Fred question. Maybe you should try private message?

[Demivec]

And if you really look at the price, even the full version is basically free: 79€ is about a few packs of mac'n'cheese or cereals, but the product contains years of development and less chemicals.

Micro$oft have a different pricing policy for Asian / third word countries , like india, vietnam, Thailand, Philippine, malaysia, , indonesia, sirilanka, japan,singapore and so on...

the average monthly income for the people there maybe less than 100~200€ ,
a 79€ maybe difficult for them to save up for many years, they will look for alternative is couldn't afford.

The variability in a person's ability to pay for, own, or aquire things is a very real thing and it's in no sense equal. That is true within a single country, city, or even family. All that can be considered a given.

It is an interesting idea, that a person pay according to their means. That may work with things that are donated because that is essentially what happens anyway. I think the demo cover individuals who are in the unable to pay group or who are wanting to try before they buy.

I don't think different pricing according to one's ability to pay, by country for instance, is a good idea from a business standpoint. With each product sold an obligation is incurred for its servicing and this can be considered part of its pricing. Fred and company's costs are his costs, in his currency and are not that of any other locale. The end result is that the costs, whatever they are would be unfunded.

How should it work to figure out who pays what price? How often would the pricing have to be updated? Would it have to take into account local taxes and inflation? Would an individual have to state their country as part of the purchase? How would this be verified? What about using another basis for pricing like income? Similar issues arise.

According to my memory Fred hasn't gone into great detail about the reasons for his pricing. I would observe that the pricing doesn't appear to be based on the idea of making the most money but instead appears to be based on reaching a larger group of people. If he did everything for free he would reach less people because he couldn't afford to continue the work.

The licensing is per person, each person needs their own license. There is also some other licensing that Fred has offered but I don't know much of the details. I believe it is arranged to address the needs and use scenarios of a classroom or a business where individuals come and go but the number of people using it at one time is restricted to a set amount. I think Fred has also stated that other things might be possible too after talking with him.


Maybe individuals in target country can ban together and form a business where licensing allows the purchase of a license. The company is productive from use of PureBasic and hires more people, acquires more licenses ... and so on.

With all things being considered I think things are priced reasonably. I wish you well on a way being found to address the concerns you brought to light.


@Edit: corrected a simple typo.

[moricode]

And if you really look at the price, even the full version is basically free: 79€ is about a few packs of mac'n'cheese or cereals, but the product contains years of development and less chemicals.

Micro$oft have a different pricing policy for Asian / third word countries , like india, vietnam, Thailand, Philippine, malaysia, , indonesia, sirilanka, japan,singapore and so on...

the average monthly income for the people there maybe less than 100~200€ ,
a 79€ maybe difficult for them to save up for many years, they will look for alternative is couldn't afford.

Do they have money for a computer at all then? Is PureBasic being sold there? You basically need a company in every country you're selling to end users and do your tax there. European Union has MOSS to unify income tax, but when selling outside you have to respect the corresponding laws and treaties. I doubt Fred does this world wide and is there still a publisher involved?

some company (eg. Google/micro$oft ...) and the local government has a project call "100usd PC for every student" in the Asian/African countries there.
even a regular computer is not expansive made in TAIWAN or CHINA.
they could save up for hardware once a time , but couldn't save for many software together, imagine : MS office license , Windows 10 license , photoshop license , antivirus license , zip/rar license , autocad license , pdf writer license , .... and many more ... this is much much higher that the hardware cost.

[moricode]

Maybe, but then how long until someone complains that's not enough?

a 1000 lines limitation is sound better , not too big , not too small , and a good number . just few line more than 800 lines

for after 20 years of purebasic , in today standards , 1000 lines limit could be reasonable and final.

the next increase will be 10/20 years later.
that's all .

at lease we know we are living in 2024 , not 1998 any more . standard up please.

[moricode]

And if you really look at the price, even the full version is basically free: 79€ is about a few packs of mac'n'cheese or cereals, but the product contains years of development and less chemicals.

Micro$oft have a different pricing policy for Asian / third word countries , like india, vietnam, Thailand, Philippine, malaysia, , indonesia, sirilanka, japan,singapore and so on...

the average monthly income for the people there maybe less than 100~200€ ,
a 79€ maybe difficult for them to save up for many years, they will look for alternative is couldn't afford.

I don't understand your point?
You want pricing like Japan or Sri Lanka?
Ultimately, this is a Fred question. Maybe you should try private message?

i mean , Fred could come up with a marketing team , and target the whole world , like Micro$oft or Antivirus company , do it big , do it grand , do it over the planet , team up , make it a big business , lead the industries , like what Borland delphi do at last 2 decades .

we happy to see that , a great PureBasic branding programing product .

am i dreaming ?

[DarkDragon]

i mean , Fred could come up with a marketing team , and target the whole world , like Micro$oft or Antivirus company , do it big , do it grand , do it over the planet , team up , make it a big business , lead the industries , like what Borland delphi do at last 2 decades .

we happy to see that , a great PureBasic branding programing product .

am i dreaming ?

That isn't just a marketing problem, it's not that simple. Legally selling software world wide is very difficult, you cannot do this as a small company all on yourselves. There are import/export control laws, tax laws, privacy laws, ..., special tax treaties and many of them change every year, so you have to pay professionals for doing it for you or keeping you up to date at least.

One example of how complicated it can be: if you sell software over standard software portals such as Google Play, iTunes, ..., you are forced to comply to the US export control laws, even if you don't sell in the US, because software is uploaded on US servers and if it is being downloaded from outside it is a re export. And as soon as you (dynamically/statically) link to libraries containing encryption algorithms you're required to register an EAR and in some cases create annual reports for the NSA. Until like 5 years ago or so you also had to do this if you just made some HTTPS requests, but that changed a bit. However that also holds for foreigners selling in their own countries. And France has similar laws if I remember correctly.

Besides this you'd need to prevent fraudulent purchases, like when people buy it for 10€ in Asia and resell it in Europe for 100€, so you need some kind of DRM protection and location identification of the customers.