[jpetso]

Quoting the author from the comments:

> Yes, the plugins are open source, too. Customers can test what they will get in an online demo which is available on my website.

> They get the functionality as well as the code after they bought the extension in my shop.

[jrochkind1]

This is a bit confusing to me. They sell the plugins, but also the plugins are licensed that a customer can redistribute them to other customers legally?

At first it sounded like 'open core' with the plugins not being open source, but if the plugins are open source too... I guess people pay for them, priced modestly, just for the convenience and support?

[everybodyknows]

>convenience and support

Also initial access, and updates. Extensions are not mentioned on the free download page ...

https://www.open3a.de/page-Download

... rather, pay-per-download:

>If someone wants advanced features, I have a shop! In my shop the users can buy many of the extensions I have developed over the years. The prices are reasonable and start at 20€ (~$24) up to around 80€ (~$96) or so. The price contains updates for this extension for one year which means the next two versions.

https://www.open3a.de/page-Plugins

Apparently German businesses aren’t much interested in running bootleg copies of modestly-priced a la carte extensions.

[jrochkind1]

Yep, that makes sense, except as far as semantics, there would be nothing "bootleg" about it -- if they are licensed AGPL, that means anyone who gets it has a license to redistribute it to others under the same license, all totally above the board and legal. Right? That's something the AGPL license, that the author has chosen, gives you the right to do.

I think this kind of mismatch stays under the radar when the stakes are pretty low, they probably aren't making tons of money off of this. If they were, someone else might try to get into the game. And if the pricing of the extension was a lot higher, more would probably use it (entirely legally) without paying.