>That said, I happen to sit here in the office with several former government employees, both direct and contract who have expressed on more than one occasion that they would have loved to use Gimp, Open Office, Linux, etc. but couldn’t due to prohibiting regulations.

This one for example would be a good example. There is nothing prohibiting those institutions(Key word) from deciding to use this software. It is the individual users of these institutions that have much more restrictions put on them, typically by the IT dept in order to control software used for various purposes, most of which boil down to attempting to keep the number of problems down. But should the IT dept or institution as a whole decide to use that software, in the US I don't believe there is much against it. The recent debacle in Mass is good reading for this, the institution was considering changing to a different Office software suite, OpenOffice, due to MS's lack of use on an agreeable(To them) format. This was started by the IT folks in that office.

Various govt institutions DO use Open Source software on a regular basis, there have been many govt inquiries into it with varying results, typically looking at different aspects. I have worked in the govt for brief stints, currently working in a educational lab(Among other places) to help pay bills while I attend school(Again). Int his lab since I have been here, we have moved from a strictly MS lab with one powerbook running OSX, to running Open Source software on about every machine, and even a full blown linux distro on one.

It has much less to do with the software being open source, as the software not being something approved by the IT department of that institution. This can be very true of closed source software just as much as it can be of open source.

Seablade

but seriously here's a bit of my mind as i've been watching david for a while, after contributing so much to the blender community, you cannot put down an idea that might be a personal endeavour, i mean you cannot put down an idea because it may help a person assess himslef as a company, especially offering blender related services . especially from a man who has given so much to the community, the least you can expect is as man like that joining business to pleasure …

most importantly, i wouldn't sell david short, i bet we will see floodback from his company or any personal endeavour of his back into the blender community.

last and least, no matter how large or important a project is carried out by the community there is always more that can be brought from individuals working on blender in a business environment, for projects under stress usually brings results faster and a thrist to complete something hastly delivered in a more complete way if not exerting to improve yourself to improve the quality of your next work with regards to a tight deadline. (you also value your time off more when you'r under constant pressure and therefore gain a more straight to the point approach that can only be benefactory to this community …)

Rock on Spiderworm… you have my support dude

These were thoughts that initially crossed my mind immediately upon reading the story. This was by no means a calculated attack on the movement or an indignant declaration of political opinion.

That said, I happen to sit here in the office with several former government employees, both direct and contract who have expressed on more than one occasion that they would have loved to use Gimp, Open Office, Linux, etc. but couldn't due to prohibiting regulations. I have no doubts that any agency wishing to use Open Source software titles will do their homework before jumping into anything. Moreso than some stories that come through the site like people hoping to finish a complete blender book for paperback w/dvd within a few short months to fulfill a publishing contract. I know that this project will be taken on with a higher level of professionalism.

Please don't think that I'm unappreciative or ignorant of the benefits of this possibility. I obviously have to praise anything that rewards the blood, sweat, and tears that go into Blender's development. I do believe, however, that should this movement become successful it will demand almost immediate response from the blender team and there will be a completely new level of responsibility to be aware of. I do think it may be a little silly to announce the support of the full developers list indirectly through a GPL agreement.

Again with respect, I think this is more of a personal gain endeavor than a movement to support the community. It's unfortunate the level of defensiveness displayed here towards community members who are only voicing concerns (questioning the definition of noob on the part of Ruben was clearly not an attack on you and shouldn't have been treated as such). Though I have no doubts you were a pillar of strength for the noob to pro project I see a long list of contributors on the page of users who worked hard out of the goodness of their hearts. I'm not fully opposed to money-making initiatives surrounding blender but have you made efforts to get other key players from the community involved? I like to see projects that the user community is truly behind, I just haven't seen that here.

Again, all points are just thoughts and I'm just exercising the right to share them.

David Millet

@punkfrog - I hope you aren't an executive of a US corporation, because if you are, I may have already lost you as a client! XD

@Ruben - Is Blender capable of working on a professional level? Project Orange, the Plumiferos team, and thousands of other professionals around the world say "Yes!". Is "Blender 3D: Noob to Pro!" a stupid name for a book? Maybe, maybe not, but regardless, I like it, and the market has responded well to it…. take a look at this Google search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=%22Blender+3D%3A+Noob+to+Pro%22&btnG=Search …. as well as this one: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=Blender+3D&btnG=Search …. You also accuse me of looking at Blender as a "child who doesn't want to learn." It's unfortunate that you decided to insult me about this endeavor that, so far, has only required that I do a little work to put up a website and pay a little money for hosting…. money I was already paying beforehand anyways. Ask yourself, which is more childish, taking a small risk by offering a service to professional studios and doing a bit of promotion so that the market knows about this service, or putting up a passive portfolio website that showcases very little creativity or talent?

@T-Ry - I appreciate your concern that some potential clients will be legally unable to use Blender in their production environments. I do know, however, that several big names are interested in adding Blender to their tool chests. Most of my market is not affected by such problems as you say. In terms of your question on morality: have you considered how such a service would benefit the Blender project and help promote those that volunteer time developing Blender? Any additional corporate interest in the Blender project will actually help promote all involved to the corporations. Also, I should mention that I'm not looking to make a million dollars: I'll be charging reasonable rates because my passion is TEACHING Blender, not gouging clients. In addition to this service, I volunteer time teaching Blender at local schools, in IRC, and writing books like Noob to Pro. What more do you want from me??!