Dicko
Those modules are Schmooze modules not FreePBX and given for free by our company to benefit the community as a greater whole. Because of license requirements with our Commercial PBXs (which pay our bills, developers and food for our families) that these modules were built for they have to remain commercial.
We have also gone out of our way to make sure these work with projects like PBXiaF to once again benefit the greater good of the community.
I use a basic “un non-free” Debian, asterisk and FreePBX from the SVN site, and a SL of other stuff, I am not aware of anything in that distribution or those codebases that are not open-source, or open to perusal/tweaking , with the exception of an acknowleged and paid for g729 license from Digium, please correct me if I am wrong.
I disagree with you “Open-Source” means exactly that, Licenses to so use that source are also fully “open-source” I do my best to honor those licenses and none have asked me to not be 100% free to do what I do within their terms.
FreePBX has been and will always be a open source project. The Distro for FreePBX installs the open source FreePBX and then in the final first boot section downloads non open source products like iSymphony and the free but commercial Sysadmin module.
Your point is lost on me I guess. You want to bring to everyone’s attention that FreePBX has a commercial repo from Schmooze com (who provides labor in terms of hours for coding freepbx) and that there are encrypted modules in there in some sort of announcement to the world that FreePBX is no longer open source. That’s what I’m not fully grasping. If schmooze com wants to make some money from modules they make in exchange for the hours of “free” open source work they do for the project then so be it. The only one really paid by bandwidth around here is PL. Tony Lewis pays his own people out of his own company to code and fix FreePBX. I dunno. I just don’t see the big problem when people start shouting “OH ITS NOT OPEN SOURCE THE SKY IS FALLING” which is (I guess) what it always comes back to me seeming like. Most people like to think Open Source == Free. I disagree with that statement because if that were true open source wouldn’t exist. There has to be some combination of free and some combination of paid. This is the same concept that companies like 2600hz use.
So please. Explain your beef to all of us.
And your points lost on me, as I have stated many times, I have no problem with Shmooze monetorizing there efforts, I might have a disagreement as to how they feel can commercialize a simple deployment of Fail2ban and some trivial linux basics (sysadmin), and I have a small gripe about the bogus “licensing” that was replaced in the aastra rpms after they failed to correct the problem but left the code out there for users to yet trip over their wallets.
Please show me where it is stated fully as to what will be installed on your sytem by downloading the iso from here, what licenses we must implicitly accept and that the distro is NOT open-source completely, it is as simple as that.
I have no problem pushing that stuff out for my clients if I can honestly tell them what they are “buying” for free, (My time is extra and I have my own terms of service and SLA)
So it is for me a matter of truth in advertising.
I have been using Phillippe’s original code since something like 0.4 , I have a Mitel PBX using exactly the same code as then for voicemail, (with some tweaking from me;-) I did not submit those changes, mea culpa )
If you read my post, I was actually trying to discourage the forking-up of perfectly good code and the attempt to purloin FreePBX’s efforts to “rebrand”. I simple pointed out that you guys are encrypting your last two additions and I assume you will continue to do so with each value added module , if you need true open-source code then you can’t use those modules, if you can then such code will be encapsulated and any problem you have with it is out of your control.
So my friend there is no beef here, just a nostalgic memory of when people really knew what they were doing, and did it without the bean-counters getting in the way.
BTW how is 2600 and FreePBX 3/Bluebox doing? Strting to look a little lime-green to me 
Dicko
You are missing the point here. sysadmin has been out for 2 years now. Its now new. The free version of sysadmin has a few nice linux sysadmin features. It is a Schmooze Module and handles the licensing of our commercial modules. We could not open source it as it would not allow us to use it for our license hooks of commercial modules. The Pro version adds more features if people want to pay for them.
Extension Routing is new but it is not a FreePBX thing that FreePBX put out. It was donated by our commercial PBX systems to fill a gap in feature that people kept asking for. Maybe next time we wont give something back and keep it to ourselves because that is what you are basically telling me to do here.
2.11 is coming along nicely with lots of call new features and changes and like all of FreePBX it is all opensource 100%.
You also miss my point, it is not free if you mean unencumbered, only free in dollars, there is a big difference to some of us guys. I am a little concerned that what is now considered a base functionality in your FreePBX distro relies on a “Schmooze module” that is non-free, I guess you guys just don’t get my point about conflict of interest at least as far as an old asterisk@home user is concerned, perhaps Phillippe has a comment here. Maybe Ward also. I do realize that is a Schmooze distro and not a FreePBX distro. . . Or is it? . . . This is I believe a FreePBX forum, no? Get your hats straight guys.
If one needs a decent extension routing module, I think they will find OpenSer/Kamailio already does it for free as yet. But that’s another subject.
And thanks for the tip about 2.11 I will have to let myself know that I have been testing it for quite some time now.
dicko,
concerning your comment:
Let’s keep things very clear. FreePBX, the application (not the distro) does not deliver what we consider ‘base’ functionality as non-open-source. In case you were referring to the extension routing module, that is not ‘base’ functionality and in fact there have been multiple solutions to that requirement over the years and still are, with their various strengths and weaknesses. If you were referring to the System Admin module, that is very distro specific.
So concerning the distro … the decision to do a distro was multi-faceted and made over the period of years. The priorities of the distro take on their own flavor and although maximizing open-source is very high on the list, there are other priorities that are also high. As it turns out, it is also completely usable without any of the very few non-open-source modules. There are plenty of alternatives for distros that have great strengths and niches of there own, of which PiAF was mentioned above and is just one of many. As it turns out, Schmooze donates their own time and resources to other projects like PiAF because they recognize and support the choice this greater community is looking for, even though many would wonder why they would do such a thing, isn’t that ‘another FreePBX Distro’ and thus ‘the competition?’
So … I guess my point here is I see most of this discussion as a bit dis-tasteful. It is filled with insinuations bordering on accusations of deception and impure motives which is unfounded and completely false. The fact of the matter is that Schmooze has generously taken years of investments and hard work and given huge portions of it over to FreePBX. Most has been in the form of pure open-source. Some has been in the form of free commercial modules. Others have even been paid modules that are now available to the FreePBX open source base and at the expense of lost paying customers to Schmooze’s PBExact line since those potential customers can now choose a free system where as before they had to buy PBExact to get those capabilities.
You may have your own philosophy’s and opinions as to choices they may make, but I would request that you try to be a bit more grounded when you are making some of these fairly strong statements. I think it’s a fair request to ask on a public forum.
[quote=dicko]And thanks for the tip about 2.11 I will have to let myself know that I have been testing it for quite some time now.
[/quote]
Will have to check. Last I knew their was no published 2.11 yet.
Phillippe , Please read my original post:-
Just a comment, forking things up has so far forked up Trixbox and soon Elastix. If you have the bottle and abilty, then go unethical, It will be hard for you ethically or practically to un-fork yourself if you need to add any new core function from FreePBX/Schmooze, as they now are wrapping up their efforts encrypted by Zen. Perhaps less “open-source”, which I regret, but at least protecting their IP to a certain extent from the leaches.
How is that a fairly strong statement?
It was just a strong support of FreePBX and statement of personal regret, but an acknowlegment that Schmooze have a right to protect their IP. That the Schmooze guys jumped all over me necessitated a defense, I have never questioned FreePBX’ integrity, and use it all the time. I have only downloaded the Schmooze iso’s to verify that it works but it does not fit my mindset, so I don’t use it. Considering this is a FreePBX forum and not a Schmooze one I felt within my rights.
I certainly have stated that I disagree in some ways, but I also believe that I have never stated anything that is not demonstrably true and as far as I am concerned grounded as far as dicko and myself are aware.
I would not come here if there were not strong opinions. I have them myself, you might have noticed.
Please just identify one “dis-tasteful” statement I have made. There is not one apart from maybe “So it is for me a matter of truth in advertising.”. That there is non-free code involved in the installation is without question, that it is or is not stated was just a request for comment, not a statement of fact.
If I pissed anyone off for having a different opinion does not surprise me, I always enjoy a good debate. that I am berated without reason by you does.
Regards
Then let me edify you Tony,
Grab a copy of subversion and try:-
svn co http://www.freepbx.org/v2/svn/freepbx/branches/2.11/
Still public, and there’s quite a functional codebase there already. Tell your friends 
Tony is one person from shmoozecom. I hardly think you can say all of Schmoozecom got on your case
I do see what you are talking about though in terms of our replies between each other so thank you for clarifying
Thank you,
I apologize that I lumped incorrectly You, Tony and even Phillippe as Schmoozers, I won’t make that mistake again. Believe me, I honor all you Dev’s
dicko,
there have been insinuations and statements that sounded very suspect.
Comments like:
and
are designed to make insinuations, try to put false words in people’s mouths, mislead readers, etc. Maybe there were others back in the posts you went back to edit, maybe not, it really doesn’t matter.
I do understand your ‘supportive’ comments you made and they did not go unnoticed, however they were not the point of my comments which were very much trying to turn your opinions which you have all the rights in the world to possess, into the insinuations and false meanings that such quotes I provided above result in.
But … this is going to be my last post here. I find these threads completely unproductive and as it stands, this has been enough of a distraction today that it’s kept me from putting out a few more of the open source features that are slated for 2.11 at the expense of “pointless” discussions. I can only blame myself for that distraction, but it’s kind of sad that it comes at the cost of some good productive coding that everyone else benefits from…
I will take back that FreePBX is not open-source, it is fully so, the Schmooze distro however is not , there can be no sustainable argument about that, sorry.
If you care to deploy the Schmooze aastra rpm’s you WILL be penetrated sooner or later if the phone is visible “on the internet” there is no possible argument against that either.
Please argue against me if you think I am wrong. . .
Also Jolius is unknown to the community and the 2 other posts have been solicitations for work.
In all fairness he has provided helpful answers in all of his posts.
Buyer beware.
I don’t want to continue this either, it is pointless. The majority of the folks who use the distro’s don’t understand the ecosystem, who Digium is or any of the other complexities, they just want their phones to work.
FreePBX needed an official distro as manual installation was simply not a choice for many users that were being forced into distro’s that were less than optimum, putting a bad shine on FreePBX.
Since many people wear different hats it’s hard to tell the players without a playbook. Maybe it would have been cleaner to call it the Schmooze distro but it would have gotten a lot less traction.
Dick, since you are well aware of the commits to the SVN I do take umbrage to you stating that further functionality will be added in commercial modules. Clearly FreePBX is still moving forward. One key to note is how many of those commits are made by Schmooze employees.
To try and taint the intent when you don’t know the people involved and with the work product continuing to be put out is prejudicial to say the least.
The biggest problem is nobody has less of a reason to put this code back into the public domain, in fact if he was not a “bigger picture” thinker it would not be done at all, that code would stay completely commercial.
If Tony has to defend himself and his company he may make the decision the BS is not worth it and the users would suffer.
Dicko, I have spoken to you personally. I don’t believe that you are trying to be harsh but you have to consider the power of words and the inability to convey intent. I too am confused of being much tougher than I ever intend to be. Take a step back, look at the work product and realize that the distro and FreePBX are two different projects. One does not suffer at the expense of the other.
Lastly, you are completely off base with the Aastra code. Schmooze did not write it was pulled due to ongoing legal issues that can’t be discussed with ongoing litigation. Nobody wanted the Aastra code to stay open more than me and I can personally guarantee you it had nothing to do with Tony and his team.