*YellowRose*
05-18-2003, 04:32 PM
Interesting . . . ;) Just found this posted on comp.sys.palmtops.pilot ~ KenyWest or PalmgearJen ~ was anything left out?
Partner Announcement - May 16, 2003
Dear PalmGear.com Partner,
As you may be aware, the PalmGear Terms of Submission (ToS) were modified on April 22, 2003. The ToS was changed after extended review internally and a discussion with many of PalmGear's leading developers. We have identified a serious imbalance in applications listed on our site; those pointing away from PalmGear for the point-of-purchase/registration vs. those pointing to PalmGear as the point-of-purchase/registration.
Through our research we identified that many applications listed on PalmGear were directing customers via "nag" screens or similar registration information within demo versions to locations other than PalmGear for purchase/registration. This means that the sale, which PalmGear generated, was not directing them to PalmGear to purchase, placing the developer in direct competition rather than in partnership.
PalmGear Terms of Submission
"You will reference PalmGear as the exclusive point of sale method
within any information or text files submitted to PalmGear for your software, and within any Info, About, Register, "Nag," reminder, or any similar screen that requires, encourages or contains information about unlocking, registering, upgrading, or otherwise taking any action required of any listed software that requires payment to activate, use, or unlock or is otherwise not free, including any free software that may require other purchased software for installation.
If you fail to comply with any of the Terms of Submission, PalmGear shall have the right to immediately delist the non-compliant software, or, at its option, require the payment of a penalty fee of up to $2.00 per downloaded copy through PalmGear of non-compliant software in order for the non-compliant software to remain listed. These remedies are without
prejudice to any other remedies that PalmGear may have in law or
equity."
A Partnership and Shared Goals
The relationship between PalmGear and our developer community is highly valued by us. The shared goal is to provide software to the approximately 3 million PalmGear visitors that visit our site each month and generate a return for both PalmGear and our developer Partners. We as a company, aren't in the software development business and believe strongly that building our own branded applications is not our business - it is yours and we don't desire to place ourselves into competition with our
developer Partners. Our developer Partners should be allowed to do what they do best; develop leading Palm OS applications; and we then do what we do best, promote and market the applications. However, the goal is no longer shared when one partner steps outside the partnership by using the other partner's strength (in this case PalmGear's branded name and
ability to bring in customers). Simply and profoundly put - "When you make money, we make money". This is a shared goal, a partnership.
What about Gear's Choice and the Essentials listings, will they be
affected?
Gear's Choice and Essentials listings are very high traffic and along with that profitable placements for software. We are currently evaluating compliant applications for Gear's Choice and Essentials listings through an internal inclusion process along with the assistance of many in the community including PUG's. Additionally these lists will be refreshed on a regular basis.
Why a $2.00 per Download Penalty?
With many applications offered for sale on PalmGear while pointing the customer away for the purchase and the current Partner Information page and reseller agreements which all state that the nag screen, registration and readme information should point to PalmGear as the point of sale, a large percentage of applications were already in breach regarding this issue prior to our modifying the ToS. PalmGear incurs costs whenever
promoting, marketing and supporting our developers businesses. Our goal is to create a definitive partnership not another revenue source for PalmGear through a download penalty.
Will You Really Delist Applications?
Absolutely, all of our applications and our developer partners are
important to us and we seek to build and maintain a true Partnership. If after May 22, 2003 an application is found to be pointing away from PalmGear for the point-of-purchase/registration we will view that as a breach by the developer of the application and the non-compliance
process will begin and, if necessary, end in delisting, at our ption, of the non-compliant application from our site.
How will PalmGear Manage the Compliance Process?
PalmGear has formed a Compliance Department that has created a process of evaluation and notification for non-compliant applications on PalmGear. PalmGear Compliance will follow the process below:
* Each application is decompressed and investigated for compliance as stated.
+ Should the registration information within the application not refer to PalmGear for registration or include a dual reference (PalmGear and another method) it is noted in our master
database.
The compliance department will email the developer to inform
them of the failure and inform them that they have 7 days to either update the software at our site or disable it from sale. This
7-day time period is for those applications beyond the time
allowed below.
+ The above is the current process for new submissions to the
site minus the 7 day time period. For new titles they must be in
compliance before they are approved and published to the site.
You may also request a review of any application by sending an email to Compliant@PalmGear.com including the following: Full name and contact info, Product Name, PalmGear.com Product ID
and the compressed archive as an attachment or location to
download.
The Compliance Department will then review and once the review is completed, reply to confirm compliance or non-compliance and if non-compliant the reasons why.
Do Developers Have a Say in How this is Works?
Yes and no. Final decisions regarding policy, contracts and agreements will remain in the hands of the PalmGear Executive Team and our legal counsel. However, with that being said we do listen, evaluate and value the input of our developer community. On Tuesday May 6, 2003, PalmGear announced the formation of its Advisory Council, consisting of PalmGear Premier Partners. PalmGear's Advisory Council will work with us to insure
that we hear and understand the needs of our developer community. In a true partnership, as this is, there are methods of communication and listening between both partners. As you can imagine with thousands of active developers we couldn't possibly create an open dialog with all, thus the Advisory Council was formed and includes approximately 60 of the most successful and trusted Palm OS developers in the market. As a result of our May 6 Advisory Council meeting and one-on-one meetings with
several Advisory Council members shortly after, PalmGear developed an interim solution to assist our developers in communicating with us regarding the compliance process and preventing the accruing of fees or delisting of valuable applications. The council members represent an excellent cross section of developers and will further bring to us the needs desires and issues that the Partners in general have voiced.
PalmGear Compliance Notification Process
Almost every developer within our Advisory Council (some compliant and some not) registered the same concern regarding the change in policy.
"I cannot possibly get all of my applications completed by May 22, 2003."
This is a valid point considering the complexity of compiling new
versions of your applications as well as the number of applications
some Partners have listed. We have listened and will be adding this week radio buttons to the developer administration area on the Terms of Submission page that allow you to choose from the following:
1. Fully Compliant
This notifies PalmGear that you already are compliant or have
completed compliance with PalmGear's ToS for all applications listed.
2. I need more time but will have my applications compliant
PalmGear will defer the non-compliance penalty and allow you time to bring all applications into compliance. The extension will be 45 days (July 7, 2003) and after that time, should an application be found to not be in compliance PalmGear would then have the option of either assessing the download fee or delisting those titles that are not in compliance.
3. I accept $2.00 per download This is set initially as the default choice; choosing one of the options above must therefore be made on or before May 22, 2003. Should this choice be made you may then either leave your software listed that is out of compliance with the understanding that by your choice you are
agreeing to the fee of $2.00 per download to be assessed from May 22, 2003 and later for software that is not in compliance with the ToS or disable your applications.
NOTE
Any developer who does not log in and choose one of the methods above on or before May 22, 2003 and it is found that applications listed by them are non-compliant, will be subject to the $2.00 per download fee from May 22, 2003 to the date the software is brought into compliance and/or de-listed from the site by PalmGear.com, at our option, or the developer directly.
Is There an Easy Way to Update My Applications?
We heard many, many suggestions about ways to make it easier to create multiple builds of an application, referencing an external database to determine registration information to be displayed based on the site it was downloaded from or various other compliance automation solutions. While we could spend time researching the validity of each one - it just simply wouldn't be a productive task for us. BUT........we do understand that there is a great need for a solution to be built as a service to the
development community at large. So, as a result of hearing your many suggestions and having our heads spin every time, we've decided that the best solution is to place the challenge into the hands of you, the Palm OS developers, and allow you to do what you do best - develop software.
With that said we would like to announce the PalmGear "Most Wanted" project!
PalmGear "Most Wanted" $5000 Software Development Reward
We are looking for an application to be built which will allow
software developers to easily comply with the PalmGear ToS requirement of referencing PalmGear in their software. This may be accomplished via compiling multiple versions of their .prc, allow for compiling of one .prc that will pull the correct reseller information at application time out and within nag screens, a server-side application for use by PalmGear that will allow for the change to be made once on our servers or even a new idea not mentioned here. There is no limit on how submissions might
accomplish the goal other than those listed above. There are probably many other options out there and we want to hear them, but more importantly we need you to build them!
Outline, Rules and Requirements
1. All entries must be received by May 31, 2003 submitted via email, with all necessary attachments, to MostWanted@PalmGear.com.
2. Entry must include full description and layout of processes, usage and timeline for coding and deployment.
3. All entries may be used by PalmGear as it sees fit, usage of an
entry at anytime will not in and of itself constitute it having won.
4. Developer agrees that should the entry win they have the skills and/or resources to build and have ready for deployment on or before June 29, 2003.
5. Entries may not include code or external software that requires
licensing nor fee for usage by PalmGear or developers.
6. Developer agrees that should their entry be chosen that PalmGear may use it royalty free.
7. Entries may be submitted in cooperation with other developers.
8. Notification of the winning entry will be made on or before June
15, 2003 with notification being sent via email.
9. Each submission, in the instance that more than one is made by the same person/company, must be submitted individually.
10. Winner will be notified by email at the same address submitted with the entry. Payment of the $5,000 reward shall be made will be made within 14 days of delivery to PalmGear of a deployable solution.
11. The proposed solution must cause software to display PalmGear.com as the sales point, as required in the PalmGear ToS, within nag or other screens that direct consumers on how to purchase.
Submissions are not required to be implemented in any particular
format and thus may be such that they involve, for example:
* Coding within Palm software by the developer
* PalmGear.com server side changes
* Coding within Palm software by the developer combined with
PalmGear.com server side functionality
* Changes to UI on Palm software on Palm OS device
The possible solution is limited only by your skill and ingenuity!
We sincerely value all of our Partners and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship!
PalmGear.com
So . . . developers DO have to change their programs. :confused:
Partner Announcement - May 16, 2003
Dear PalmGear.com Partner,
As you may be aware, the PalmGear Terms of Submission (ToS) were modified on April 22, 2003. The ToS was changed after extended review internally and a discussion with many of PalmGear's leading developers. We have identified a serious imbalance in applications listed on our site; those pointing away from PalmGear for the point-of-purchase/registration vs. those pointing to PalmGear as the point-of-purchase/registration.
Through our research we identified that many applications listed on PalmGear were directing customers via "nag" screens or similar registration information within demo versions to locations other than PalmGear for purchase/registration. This means that the sale, which PalmGear generated, was not directing them to PalmGear to purchase, placing the developer in direct competition rather than in partnership.
PalmGear Terms of Submission
"You will reference PalmGear as the exclusive point of sale method
within any information or text files submitted to PalmGear for your software, and within any Info, About, Register, "Nag," reminder, or any similar screen that requires, encourages or contains information about unlocking, registering, upgrading, or otherwise taking any action required of any listed software that requires payment to activate, use, or unlock or is otherwise not free, including any free software that may require other purchased software for installation.
If you fail to comply with any of the Terms of Submission, PalmGear shall have the right to immediately delist the non-compliant software, or, at its option, require the payment of a penalty fee of up to $2.00 per downloaded copy through PalmGear of non-compliant software in order for the non-compliant software to remain listed. These remedies are without
prejudice to any other remedies that PalmGear may have in law or
equity."
A Partnership and Shared Goals
The relationship between PalmGear and our developer community is highly valued by us. The shared goal is to provide software to the approximately 3 million PalmGear visitors that visit our site each month and generate a return for both PalmGear and our developer Partners. We as a company, aren't in the software development business and believe strongly that building our own branded applications is not our business - it is yours and we don't desire to place ourselves into competition with our
developer Partners. Our developer Partners should be allowed to do what they do best; develop leading Palm OS applications; and we then do what we do best, promote and market the applications. However, the goal is no longer shared when one partner steps outside the partnership by using the other partner's strength (in this case PalmGear's branded name and
ability to bring in customers). Simply and profoundly put - "When you make money, we make money". This is a shared goal, a partnership.
What about Gear's Choice and the Essentials listings, will they be
affected?
Gear's Choice and Essentials listings are very high traffic and along with that profitable placements for software. We are currently evaluating compliant applications for Gear's Choice and Essentials listings through an internal inclusion process along with the assistance of many in the community including PUG's. Additionally these lists will be refreshed on a regular basis.
Why a $2.00 per Download Penalty?
With many applications offered for sale on PalmGear while pointing the customer away for the purchase and the current Partner Information page and reseller agreements which all state that the nag screen, registration and readme information should point to PalmGear as the point of sale, a large percentage of applications were already in breach regarding this issue prior to our modifying the ToS. PalmGear incurs costs whenever
promoting, marketing and supporting our developers businesses. Our goal is to create a definitive partnership not another revenue source for PalmGear through a download penalty.
Will You Really Delist Applications?
Absolutely, all of our applications and our developer partners are
important to us and we seek to build and maintain a true Partnership. If after May 22, 2003 an application is found to be pointing away from PalmGear for the point-of-purchase/registration we will view that as a breach by the developer of the application and the non-compliance
process will begin and, if necessary, end in delisting, at our ption, of the non-compliant application from our site.
How will PalmGear Manage the Compliance Process?
PalmGear has formed a Compliance Department that has created a process of evaluation and notification for non-compliant applications on PalmGear. PalmGear Compliance will follow the process below:
* Each application is decompressed and investigated for compliance as stated.
+ Should the registration information within the application not refer to PalmGear for registration or include a dual reference (PalmGear and another method) it is noted in our master
database.
The compliance department will email the developer to inform
them of the failure and inform them that they have 7 days to either update the software at our site or disable it from sale. This
7-day time period is for those applications beyond the time
allowed below.
+ The above is the current process for new submissions to the
site minus the 7 day time period. For new titles they must be in
compliance before they are approved and published to the site.
You may also request a review of any application by sending an email to Compliant@PalmGear.com including the following: Full name and contact info, Product Name, PalmGear.com Product ID
and the compressed archive as an attachment or location to
download.
The Compliance Department will then review and once the review is completed, reply to confirm compliance or non-compliance and if non-compliant the reasons why.
Do Developers Have a Say in How this is Works?
Yes and no. Final decisions regarding policy, contracts and agreements will remain in the hands of the PalmGear Executive Team and our legal counsel. However, with that being said we do listen, evaluate and value the input of our developer community. On Tuesday May 6, 2003, PalmGear announced the formation of its Advisory Council, consisting of PalmGear Premier Partners. PalmGear's Advisory Council will work with us to insure
that we hear and understand the needs of our developer community. In a true partnership, as this is, there are methods of communication and listening between both partners. As you can imagine with thousands of active developers we couldn't possibly create an open dialog with all, thus the Advisory Council was formed and includes approximately 60 of the most successful and trusted Palm OS developers in the market. As a result of our May 6 Advisory Council meeting and one-on-one meetings with
several Advisory Council members shortly after, PalmGear developed an interim solution to assist our developers in communicating with us regarding the compliance process and preventing the accruing of fees or delisting of valuable applications. The council members represent an excellent cross section of developers and will further bring to us the needs desires and issues that the Partners in general have voiced.
PalmGear Compliance Notification Process
Almost every developer within our Advisory Council (some compliant and some not) registered the same concern regarding the change in policy.
"I cannot possibly get all of my applications completed by May 22, 2003."
This is a valid point considering the complexity of compiling new
versions of your applications as well as the number of applications
some Partners have listed. We have listened and will be adding this week radio buttons to the developer administration area on the Terms of Submission page that allow you to choose from the following:
1. Fully Compliant
This notifies PalmGear that you already are compliant or have
completed compliance with PalmGear's ToS for all applications listed.
2. I need more time but will have my applications compliant
PalmGear will defer the non-compliance penalty and allow you time to bring all applications into compliance. The extension will be 45 days (July 7, 2003) and after that time, should an application be found to not be in compliance PalmGear would then have the option of either assessing the download fee or delisting those titles that are not in compliance.
3. I accept $2.00 per download This is set initially as the default choice; choosing one of the options above must therefore be made on or before May 22, 2003. Should this choice be made you may then either leave your software listed that is out of compliance with the understanding that by your choice you are
agreeing to the fee of $2.00 per download to be assessed from May 22, 2003 and later for software that is not in compliance with the ToS or disable your applications.
NOTE
Any developer who does not log in and choose one of the methods above on or before May 22, 2003 and it is found that applications listed by them are non-compliant, will be subject to the $2.00 per download fee from May 22, 2003 to the date the software is brought into compliance and/or de-listed from the site by PalmGear.com, at our option, or the developer directly.
Is There an Easy Way to Update My Applications?
We heard many, many suggestions about ways to make it easier to create multiple builds of an application, referencing an external database to determine registration information to be displayed based on the site it was downloaded from or various other compliance automation solutions. While we could spend time researching the validity of each one - it just simply wouldn't be a productive task for us. BUT........we do understand that there is a great need for a solution to be built as a service to the
development community at large. So, as a result of hearing your many suggestions and having our heads spin every time, we've decided that the best solution is to place the challenge into the hands of you, the Palm OS developers, and allow you to do what you do best - develop software.
With that said we would like to announce the PalmGear "Most Wanted" project!
PalmGear "Most Wanted" $5000 Software Development Reward
We are looking for an application to be built which will allow
software developers to easily comply with the PalmGear ToS requirement of referencing PalmGear in their software. This may be accomplished via compiling multiple versions of their .prc, allow for compiling of one .prc that will pull the correct reseller information at application time out and within nag screens, a server-side application for use by PalmGear that will allow for the change to be made once on our servers or even a new idea not mentioned here. There is no limit on how submissions might
accomplish the goal other than those listed above. There are probably many other options out there and we want to hear them, but more importantly we need you to build them!
Outline, Rules and Requirements
1. All entries must be received by May 31, 2003 submitted via email, with all necessary attachments, to MostWanted@PalmGear.com.
2. Entry must include full description and layout of processes, usage and timeline for coding and deployment.
3. All entries may be used by PalmGear as it sees fit, usage of an
entry at anytime will not in and of itself constitute it having won.
4. Developer agrees that should the entry win they have the skills and/or resources to build and have ready for deployment on or before June 29, 2003.
5. Entries may not include code or external software that requires
licensing nor fee for usage by PalmGear or developers.
6. Developer agrees that should their entry be chosen that PalmGear may use it royalty free.
7. Entries may be submitted in cooperation with other developers.
8. Notification of the winning entry will be made on or before June
15, 2003 with notification being sent via email.
9. Each submission, in the instance that more than one is made by the same person/company, must be submitted individually.
10. Winner will be notified by email at the same address submitted with the entry. Payment of the $5,000 reward shall be made will be made within 14 days of delivery to PalmGear of a deployable solution.
11. The proposed solution must cause software to display PalmGear.com as the sales point, as required in the PalmGear ToS, within nag or other screens that direct consumers on how to purchase.
Submissions are not required to be implemented in any particular
format and thus may be such that they involve, for example:
* Coding within Palm software by the developer
* PalmGear.com server side changes
* Coding within Palm software by the developer combined with
PalmGear.com server side functionality
* Changes to UI on Palm software on Palm OS device
The possible solution is limited only by your skill and ingenuity!
We sincerely value all of our Partners and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship!
PalmGear.com
So . . . developers DO have to change their programs. :confused: