It IS Free, Soon It Will Not Be Free!

Talking with another member of Unity, we were discussing current issues and trends that eventually turned to the evolution of Boonex, Unity and Dolphin.  What else did you think we'd talk about?  Fish?

Of course, this convesation ineviteably turned to Andrew's recent blog post concerning the 12 scoops (and we're not talking about ice cream here) that are making up the new Unity that is about to come out as D7 moves into it's stable tank. 

The most interesting topic it seems is how Dolphin is no longer going to be as free as it currently is.  Right now, you can download Dolphin, grab a free license and you only need to pay a host a few dollars to be up and running.  You can even have your Video Chat/IM/Boards all working within minutes and you have still paid nothing for Dolphin or it's functions.  Those days are about to join Michael Jackson.

Within the blog written by Andrew, post number 8 is about to have the largest effect on the largest number of users.  This is where Boonex is announcing that they will be doing away with the BMS (Boonex Media Server).

What this means, is if your are running a Dolphin-Free site it is going to cost you additional funds each month or you will be forced to remove certain options from your site.  Video Chat/IM/Boards will not work for you once the BMS is turned off and will continue to not work until you make arrangements with another RMS provider (This will require you to pay a monthly fee) or you install your own RMS. 

For those who are on a VPS or Dedicated Server, the installation of your own RMS is going to be the wisest move to make, for those on Shared Servers your only option will be to lease from another provider.

Now we know that Boonex gave you a free product to use in return for advertising their software, and you will still have the free product, only the terms of what it provides you with appear to be changing.

In this instance I am glad to say that I set myself up from the beginning with the means to run without dependency on boonex or others by setting up from the beginning with the correct types of servers and installing my own RMS.  For those who have not been able to do this, the time has come unfortunately for you to either open your wallets or turn parts of your sites off.

Which are you going to do?