Unfortunately, using Daphne to make money has become an increasingly
common activity.
Some people are selling Daphne along with arcade ROMs, video/audio
files, and/or arcade cabinets because they know that the inclusion of
Daphne adds tremendous value to the overall package.
I do not like people selling my work and profiting, when they didn't
contribute in some meaningful way to the Daphne project. I find it an
increasingly troublesome situation.
How does the commercial exploitation of Daphne hurt the project?
1 - My motivation to work on Daphne is crushed when I see people
willing to spend nearly $50 to buy a bunch of burned Daphne DVD's from
some stranger who doesn't know how to code a line of C++ to save his
life, but not willing to donate 25 cents to me or others for the work
we've done.
2 - People who buy it usually come to the Daphne Team for tech
support. As I'm sure you can understand, this is a huge slap in our
collective face.
3 - Some people who commercially exploit Daphne may make promises such
as "Daphne will eventually support this game!" No one is authorized
to make such promises unless they are planning on fulfilling the
promise themselves.
4 - The commercial exploitation of Daphne, copyrighted ROMS, and/or
video/audio files may bring Daphne under legal risk.
I therefore ask that you do not use Daphne for commercial purposes.
If you know of someone who is using Daphne in a commercial way, I ask you to make them aware of this policy, and to urge them to
cooperate. *
Sinerely,
Matt Ownby
* - You may feel the urge to notify me of every person who is
exploiting Daphne commercially. I invite you to resist this urge, as
this won't really solve anything and will only make me feel worse.