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Uh-oh - TestDriven.NET goes commercial

Today Jamie Cansdale announced big news - TestDriven.NET is now a commercial product. Although not a huge surprise (signs have been there for a while), this change may very well have some serious repercussions. I know a lot of developers (including me) have TD.NET deeply embedded in their development process. Being suddenly asked to pay for this tool is kind of like - well, kind of like being asked to suddenly pay for NUnit.

I don't begrudge Jamie's right to try to turn what has obviously become a major time investment for him into a money-making venture. I do, however, think this change is going to complicate a lot of people's lives. Anyone who lives in budget-constrained enterprise where ordering software is like pulling teeth (a lot of people, I suspect) is now going to have to justify a new purchase.

My big question about the change is this - what about people already using it? Are they now suddenly software pirates? I know that Jamie still has a free "personal" license, but that only supports "trial users, students and open source developers" - not your average joe professional developer.

I do wish Jamie luck in his new venture. But in the end I wonder if he's already been too successful - he may have gotten so many people hooked on integrated unit testing that an open-source competitor may soon spring up. Anyone from the NUnit team out there? :)
 

 Update - Jamie chimed in in the comments and pointed out that the personal license is very permissive. Doesn't sound like he'll have the BSA beating down our doors any time soon. :) Thanks Jamie.

1 Comment

  • Hi Kevin,

    If you read the personal licence agreement you'll find it's very liberal. There aren't any restrictions on how you use it. If you want to be a trial user forever then that's your prerogative. ;)

    I know that in a lot of organisations ordering (non-Microsoft?) software can be very painful. That is why you won't find any clauses in the personal licence that make using it on commercial projects a grey area.

    I just hope that a few people are inclined to purchase some software that hopefully makes them more productive. At the end of the day developers aren't cheap and productivity is important.

    Thanks, Jamie.

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