No hidden objective, I always post from proxies on all the forums I use as I do not wish for people to know where I work.

I have no hidden objective and I do not have any issues with open source CFD or indeed open source software in general (I do after all use an open source OS). I shouldn't have rounded on the developer of this particular code granted and for that I apologise.

What I do object to is the hypocrisy of certain posters on this forum who run shouting and screaming to the nearest admin whenever someone from a commercial code does a bit of free advertising but developers of openFOAM are allowed to boast at how great the package is whilst all the time people pockets are lined from the proceeds of training, support and customized developments. And no I don't work for a commercial code (although I do use one).

There is a specific open Foam forum (which is actually run of the cfd-online servers!!!!!) where everyone can confess their love (and provide their advertising) to other open foam users: http://openfoam.cfd-online.com/cgi-bin/forum/discus.cgi

Jonas, can I have your guarantee that anyone posting from an openCFD, hpctraining, wikki ltd, gocompute, Icon cg (or any other profit making organization who provide foam training, support and development) who indulge in advertising (either directly or indirectly) on these forums, are treated with the same disdain as employees of ANSYS, cd adapco, blue ridge, etc etc

The forum does not in any way publicly disclose the IP address of who the poster is, so the only reason to use an anonymizing relay is if you want to hide your computer address also for the CFD Online administrators. I'm not sure why you would like to hide this and whenever we see people who use anonymizing relays to post we look extra carefully at what is posted. Hence, by using an anonymizing relay you really draw the attention of us administrators!

With the soon-to-be-launched new forum software we will require registration and a valid confirmed email address for anyone who wants to post. People who hide their identity and also use different names when they post often tend to act a bit irresponsible. "Harold Skywalker" has not posted anything before on these forums, so if you ever used these forums before it must have been under a different name.

About your question. We will of course not accept any form of hidden advertising on these forums, and that includes both commercial advertising and any form of personal advertising.

It costs something to run/administer cfd-online, and cfd-online uses an ad-supported service model, and as such the ad posters need to pay cfd-online for displaying the ads.

Users such as I prefer that the ads be separate from the forum posts. The latter should be technical/informational. Code developers using forum posts to advertise their product/service are not only using cfd-online service without payment but are causing users like me some cognitive dissonance and annoyance. There is enough of this already, from posts with incoherence and poorly framed questions!

There should not be posts with hidden agendas, where a code developer not identifying himself/herself as such, espouses his/her product, whether that code is free or not. This is worse than the previous sort of post, because it could trick readers into making poor choices. Knowing the affiliation of the poster at least allows the reader to practice caveat emptor.

The developers of open-source and free codes who post here should be able to provide availability information about the codes (though this permission is up to Jonas Larsson), provided they do not conceal their identity as the developers. They should also be able to address technical questions about the codes. They should not be able to advertise (in the forum posts) the support/services they provide and charge for. For this, they should purchase banner ads just like the commercial code developers. The codes are provided free of charge. The user does not have to purchase technical support for the code if they do not wish to.

I have nothing against either commercial codes or free codes. Each variety has its place and satisfies some need. If I had the time/energy/ability/contacts to write and market a commercial code, I might do so.

I applaud the developers of FreeCFD and OpenFOAM and other such open-source and/or free codes for their contributions to the simulation community. It seems clear that at least for now, the FreeCFD developers charge neither for the code itself, nor for any technical support they offer through their user forum.

I did not download FreeCFD, but I suggest to the developers that they should make clear to the visitor to their website the license terms of the code (GPL or LGPL or other) before they download the source. Also, the knowledge of the usage license and the clarification of who owns the copyright would have an influence on people who wish to modify the code and contribute to its development.

I wish I hadn't post anything.

This got blown out of proportion. I think the objective of open source code is to develop new algorithms and numerical schemes and have fun coding. Yes, this may seem odd but it is actually fun to code and learn at the same time!

The majority of open source codes are like that. They don't want to tackle commercial codes. Commercial codes are robust, integrated with each other easy-to-use, can handle very large assemblies (as stated in this forum), etc. In a nut shell they are great codes developed by very talented people. If someone needs this kind of functionality they should open their pockets and pay for this because they will get return on investment (ROI).

In summary, I think open source codes can co-exist with commercial codes and should not be viewed as a threat. (because that is just one more challenge to the open source community and makes them want to overcome that limitation).

Hi guys,

All that remains is to name and shame the "anonymous" posters, including their names, their affiliation as well as the person who has authorised this at their company. This is not the first time we had the same people doing the same kind of thing: they have been caught the last time, hence the new level of protection.

Hrv

oh, wow, that's a really bright idea, perhaps we could also administer some public hearings as well jeez, chill out, all the guy said was, he did not care much for some of the stuff "free" code guys are peddling. what's wrong with that? has nothing to do with working for a commercial vendor... i bet most commercial support/developer/etc... got their PhDs using free stuff or writing their own... and besides who would care to "authorize" them anyway...what that's all part of a big dark plot to discredit some poor developers tooling day and night for some greater goodI use commercial and free and basically whatever works, but hey I think it's good to have strong opinions keeps this forum alive... miss johnc sometimes....

Hmmm, Where is John C? Bicycling to Afghanistan perhaps? Andy R