Question about the Premium Membership Terms

[droidscriptusr]

Can someone please explain exactly how the premium membership works by clarifying the following points:

1).  Are there any API calls or other features of the "Droidscript framework proper" that are hidden from users who are not premium members, or that will be hidden from non-premium membership users in the future?

2).  Will non-free plugins that a premium member has downloaded cease to work if the member discontinues his membership?

3).  Can all of the non-free plugins be obtained individually through a one-time purchase, much like in Tasker's model, if the user does not want to participate as a premium member?

[Alan Hendry]

HI,

I'm only a volunteer, so I can't give you an official answer. 

In the documentation there's a section "Material UI Premium" and under Reference a section "Premium",

there are a few objects (usually in green, like CodeEdit) or methods (like Method),
some Samples are Premium. The ability to handle translations in your app is built-in but only documented for Premium Users. 

Sometimes Premium features become available to non-Premium users

https://symdstools.github.io/Docs/docs/intro/00ReleaseNotes.htm

"External storage access (SAF) is now available to non-premium users."

"Added _sdk_ file detection to enable SDK menu for non premium users."

I've been using DS for a few years and the only significant removal I recall was due to DS getting banned from the Play Store
"Removed support for Admob (Google requirement)."
Occasionally something becomes obsolete or is replaced (this even happens in Premium)

https://symdstools.github.io/Docs/docs/MUI/CreateListModern.htm 

"Please note that CreateListInitialIcon, CreateListMaterialIcon and CreateListWithAvatar are now deprecated. 

But still you can achieve these designs by passing appropriate comma-separated options to the options param of CreateListModern method"

There are free plugins (I haven't seen any go from free to fee),  

Some plugins require a fee, and AFAIK are quite separate from DS.

In the past you could buy the Builder separately, but now all of DS Premium is one fee (monthly or lifetime).

On Google Play Store you can buy DroidScript UI Kit which as far as I can tell is almost identical to DS Material UI Premium  

DS is a "not for profit" organization. They do not seem to be just trying to make money.

They genuinely try to help users, investigate and fix problems, adjust for new versions of Android, add new features, etc

Regards, ah 

[droidscriptusr]

On Saturday, September 3, 2022 at 6:41:56 AM UTC-4 hendr...@gmail.com wrote:

HI,

I'm only a volunteer, so I can't give you an official answer. 

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

In the documentation there's a section "Material UI Premium" and under Reference a section "Premium",

there are a few objects (usually in green, like CodeEdit) or methods (like Method),

So it does appear that a portion of the framework is being held behind a paywall.  

Unfortunately, the Method functionality looks pretty basic if you want to access Java objects directly and the fact that transparent layouts that hover over other activities are restricted to premium is also a bit disappointing.  

  

some Samples are Premium.

That is potentially a lot less problematic for someone who is considering investing their time into learning a new non-OSS platform, and a good way to motivate users to contribute financially. 

  

DS is a "not for profit" organization. They do not seem to be just trying to make money.

They genuinely try to help users, investigate and fix problems, adjust for new versions of Android, add new features, etc

This is good to know of course because it helps build more trust in their operation, but the fact that they are hiding important components of the framework itself behind a paywall for an application that is non-OSS is not all that much to my taste right now.  

I have less of a problem with a business model that releases an OSS "community supported" version of an application that may be missing certain features, primarily of interest to companies, in the non-OSS "enterprise version" of their product.

   

Regards, ah 

Since my needs are modest at the moment, I'll probably start off working with PHONK instead:

Phonk – A Free and Open Source Alternative to Droidscript | Java LibHunt

 

[Alan Hendry]

HI,

DS is not open source. 

Premium (paywall) is mainly for facilities to develop apps to sell (on Google Play etc) like the builder.

The UI kit is a pay for plugin that is included in DS Premium (as Material UI).

If you use a free facility that is removed from a new release of DS, 

you seem to be able to go back to the old version from https://androidscript.org/apk/.

DS and your DS apps currently run on Android (and Chromebook) only.

Something called Hybrid is currently being added to DS, 

which is a test bed for using a different "interface" to Android 

that will become https://enjine.io/ which will allow Android/iOS/Windows/etc development
Unfortunately there are no estimated dates (loads of objects/methods/documentation/tools)

Regards, ah