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General NaN press release
Internet commerce based on free software The growth of the Internet has resulted in new visions in the area of software sales and distribution. Today, software is not considered a mere product, but intellectual property. The free exchange of programs has become as important as free and accessible communication. Over the years, users of Unix platforms have become used to relying on free software. In fact, the free availability of both executables and the source code itself allows them to modify the software to suit their individual needs. Much of this software is released under a 'public license', which means that anyone is free to use the source code in exchange for publication of any improvements and bug fixes the user may develop. This allows software manufacturers to take advantage, at no cost, of the input of an enormous number of potential testers and developers to improve their software. The optimal way to commercially exploit this strategy for the benefit of the software manufacturer remains a topic of intense discussion, however. The core of such a strategy can involve payment on the part of users for services or products that facilitate use of the free software. NaN 'Not a Number', a company based in Eindhoven the Netherlands, recently took an interesting first step in this area. The company's 3D design and animation program 'Blender' has been distributed free of charge via the Internet since January 1998, reaching tens of thousands of enthusiastic users. The source code for Blender has not yet been published, since NaN wants to develop a sound commercial basis for the company first. The first step in NaN's strategy is the publication of a printed manual for Blender. The company plans to generate sufficient turnover to finance the free distribution and further development of Blender using a strategy based on tangible products such as manuals and CD ROMs. Complete 3D suite Blender can be used to create a wide variety of different types of 3D graphics, for web pages, video graphics and even complete animation productions. The program is equipped with advanced features that allow the user to quickly and efficiently build, visualise and animate spatial models. The program has a strict object-oriented structure. Using a carefully selected and limited set of 'objects', the user can build complex structure that can then be used to describe a complete universe. Blender's history Blender is the result of nine years of development by the Eindhoven animation studio NeoGeo. Strict deadlines and daily use of graphics and animation technology made NeoGeo the ideal development and testing ground for a program such as Blender. The activities of NeoGeo were the basis for Blender's original character. The fact that the program was never meant for a large group of users allowed it to grow into a very practical program with an interface that rewards the required change in the user's working methods. In August 1998, NeoGeo sold its animation department to 'Alatis Patent'. Ton Roosendaal, part owner of NeoGeo, established the company NaN for the exploitation and further development of Blender. The manual project Together with the designers of the Blender manual, Riff Raff Design in Amsterdam, a concept for the manual was created to further strengthen Blender's image. The decision to use Blender is not taken pragmatically by users, but is usually based on more emotional motives. The Blender manual is therfore much more than a functional summary of Blender's features. It is a 'manual with an attitude'. The layout of the manual actually gives the user an extra layer of information, an emotional undercurrent that places the use of Blender and the underlying philosophy of Blender in a broader context. The manual conciously abandons the straight and narrow path, resulting in a book that would not look out of place on the coffee table! The future is for realtime 3D NaN's next venture is the publication of the Blender 1.8 CD ROM, which contains a full version of the program in use at NeoGeo, including nine year's worth of plugins, extra tools and a comprehensive archive of 3D models and textures. NaN is also planning to release the first completely new version of Blender in the near future. Once Blender version 1.8 has been released, a definitive decision will be made as to whether the source code will be published or a more easily accessible plugin/library system will be offered. The most important new feature in version 2.0 will be its support for real-time 3D for use in game and interactive environment development. Ton Roosendaal ton@blender.nl |
