Hi Jason,

> I presume that if you are open sourcing Marathon that this is a reflection
> of your current inability to keep up with the development demands that it

is

> imposing upon you. This means that you are looking to hand it off in the
> most respectable way possible. I respect you for doing this. I am certain
> this will be viewed as a very valuable contribution.
>
> However, in order for Marathon to be transitioned into Open Source
> successfully you may actually need to double your efforts. I hope you will
> be very frank about how much you are willing to help to get the community
> behind it and keep it alive. Otherwise, I am very concerned that the sheer
> massiveness of the base of code will be too much for us to handle. If we
> know you are there and can rely upon your efforts to continue as the

project

> lead our reliance will be good. If you are looking to hand it off cleanly
> then I think we should know that too. Then we will know that we have got

to

> take care of it ourselves and we can just get on with it. I think either

way

> is fine as long as we know.

I am aware of this and expect to spend the next few months guiding and
handholding until the team, whoever they may be, get up to speed.

[snip]

> One thing everyone needs to keep in mind is that Marathon cannot be fully
> open sourced. It has been made with many third party products that may or
> may not allow the use of an Open Source license. Trustware has no
> incompatibilities and I think it is just as favorable to the customer base
> as any open source product is. Free for those who need it free and
> commercially fueled by those in a position to do so.

Marathon *can* be open sourced (if you choose the right licence). What third
party libraries it is linked to is immaterial - It means obviously that
anybody building must have those thirdparty libraries.

Having said this here is the list of what is currently used:

Other - My own stuff and some already open source XML stuff from the
FreePascal project
PagePrint & TDataSetPrinter - Freeware with source
rmControls - Freeware with source
SynEdit - Open Source
TB97 - Shareware, but can be removed easily
TreeNT - Freeware with sOurce

Cheers,

Pat