Blender Going Shareware

mrlament writes "As I'm sure many others did, I just recieved this note from the Blender people. Click below to read the full note-the basic summary is that they are going to be going the shareware route, but will it will remain freely distributed and functional. A Windows Port has been done, surprisingly easily, but that will not be free. " - The Key Decision: the commercial side of Blender

Don't panic! ;-) Blender remains freely distributed and functional as it used to be. However, the famous disabled features and most new development will be unlocked for paying customers only: the Key holders. NaN guarantees bug fixes and feature refinements for keyless users equally to Key holders. The decision to sell software Keys to active Blender users is a necessary condition to guarantee development towards the 1.8 release of Blender, the "Complete Blender". The Complete Key will be sold for the humble price of Euro 95, approx. USD 100.

More about this news. - Windows version?

Don't panic 2! ;-) Porting to Windows went surprisingly smooth, so in april this version will be published as well. Blender for Windows won't be freeware... To be able to write files, Windows users will have to pay for Blender. Within short terms, there will be no 'complete' version for Windows.

- Manuals

The current printed manual is valid for the entire 1.x series, for all platforms and including the Complete Blender. As announced before, manual sales are satisfying, but not sufficient to finance continious Blender development. To please manual buyers, they get a Euro 10 discount at a Key purchase.

The Slashdot review caused a big leap in the manual sales. We are out of stock until april 2. Check out the Book Review.