Enfold changes Desktop license

The commercial product that lets users drag-and-drop content between the Microsoft Windows desktop and Plone has a new license that gives any company, organization or institution free use, without time limits, on up to five of its computers.

Enfold Systems has released Enfold Desktop 3.0 Beta under new terms designed to make trial and evaluation easier for users of all types while recouping the significant development costs and ensuring future development through sales for larger installations. The final release will carry the same terms.

The previous Enfold Desktop license carried a time limit on the free trial period for commercial entities, but noncommercial entities could use Desktop free of charge, without time limit, on all their machines. Enfold still will consider granting charities unlimited free use on a case-by-case basis.

Plone co-founder and Enfold president Alan Runyan says the new license will give Plone evangelists who work in the for-profit sector a new tool to help show their companies the benefits of Plone. On The Plone Blog, Runyan writes:

I hope our Desktop integration provides a means for persons to evagelise Plone inside their organizations in a more persuasive way. Seeing is believing. And if they want to use our software for ease of evaluation and helps them spread Plone (even if they dont purchase it in the end) -- then we will have done our job. We want to lower the bar for evaluation and consideration of the Plone CMS.

Among the most frequent users of Enfold Desktop are users of Plone intranets and extranets where much of the collaboration involves sharing documents. Enfold says Desktop 3.0 Beta has undergone more than a thousand developer-hours of testing, so it should run noticeably more smoothly. New features include support for Unicode file names, predefined sessions for easier content editing and the ability to extend Desktop for custom needs via new plug-in architecture.

More information and a download link are on the Enfold Desktop Web page.