This may be an opportunity re-evaluate Gramps distribution for Windows, and potentially gain a wider audience.
[Link to the app below isn’t valid any more; see this message for an update]
BTW, someone is already making money with what looks like a version of Gramps, charging $2.69 for it. Link to “Gramps!” app on Microsoft Store.
I have no feelings (pro or con) if this is something that Gramps should explore. However…
Currently, all Gramps updates are installed in their own directory by version. That is not the expectation when a new update is available through the store in other apps. Updates overwrite existing installs and the same icons/shortcuts are used.
That feels like something someone (@Nick-Hall?) should look into. Having said that, I can imagine trying to get MS to take it down from their store would not be straightforward.
It appears it may not be against the GPL v2.0 or later license to package and sell the product, so an evaluation is needed on whether there has been a violation of any terms of the license. Do we have any experts here on licensing?
@codefarmer I can’t help with interpreting licensing but you may not need to ponder the issue after all because it looks Like MS have taken down this Gramps app from their store; the link in your OP now returns a ‘product not found’ page.
Returning to the original topic, of considering making Gramps available via the MS Store. I’m no expert but I think it will turn out to be more complicated than it sounds. As far as I know, apps in the Store are MSIX packages.
Gramps uses NSIS to create the installer, and NSIS is not capable of creating MSI/MSIX installers directly, so certainly there will be some work involved. A quick search indicates that it’s possible to wrap EXE installers into MSI, but these are all details which can be worked out if we decide to go forward with it.
Once the app is available from the store, the file type won’t matter. Users who pull it down from GitHub can be advised of the change and are probably savvy enough to handle the change, don’t you think?
Even if I got it from GitHub, I wouldn’t want to have to install Gramps as an MSIX. I like my traditional desktop icon and (at least for the Affinity Suite) an MSIX won’t create a desktop icon. Creating one manually is a hassle, because the folder an MSIX installs to is a hidden system folder = hard to access.
Thanks for your investigation, @codefarmer. I want to offer for anyone who is willing to make a Gramps distribution for the Windows Store, we have funds available and all monetary costs can be covered. These costs could include software tools that you might have to buy to make the correct package format. I have not researched it myself, but I think it would be fantastic if we could offer Gramps in the Microsoft store.
Err, no, I only know what I’ve read in the link I posted to the difference between the Affinity MSIX and MSI and what I’ve read on the Affinity forum about the confusion it caused / causes users. I know nothing of coding.
Some time ago, there was a bit of conversation about forming an Gramps corporate entity. So that there would be signing authority that would help with formal agreement interactions with companies. (Such as Ancestry, FamilySearch, Microsoft or a digital signature provider.)
And to fix the problem where our GPL lacks the final step in the proper use of the template: customizing the example company at the end to a real copyright holder entity.
Would the selling of the software necessitate that the seller owns the copyright. Most of Gramps files have a long list copyright holders going back to Don Allingham. Just because anyone can add their name to the copyright list does that make them the owner?
The GPL license allows it. Essentially, they are selling the bundling or the store placement, not Gramps itself. And this is their retailing “mark-up” margin.
I gave myself that assignment almost two years ago. I have failed to make it a priority. The last time that I looked into it, I recommended that we join the Open Source Collective. But there weren’t really many responses in favor or opposed to it. So I never took action.
Does anyone have any opinions to offer on the OSC?
It looks like joining the OSC means that the project would have to dedicate resources towards active fund-raising. And have to follow the financial goals and administrative tasks in their structure.
And it looks like there isn’t a way to ‘dip in a toe’. We would have to be “all in” or be “out”
Was OSC the only one considered, how about the one the used to host Wikimedia foundation elections and has 45 open source project associated with them they are called SPI (Software in the Public Interest) the latest project they invited was Libreboot a few weeks ago
Err, no, I only know what I’ve read in the link I posted to the difference between the Affinity MSIX and MSI and what I’ve read on the Affinity forum about the confusion it caused / causes users. I know nothing of coding.