BuddyPress.org / testbp.org is for sure NOT charging for anything.
swaymedia is talking about Brajesh’s site:
http://buddydev.com/
BuddyPress.org is not affiliated with BuddyDev.com
Like Erich stated, the core BuddyPress platform will always remain free and open-source.
Additional plugins and functionality are available from third-party sites for free, or in Brajesh’s case, on a paid-subscription basis.
And BuddyDev.com never claimed to be affiliated with BuddyPress.org 
And it’s $30 for 3 months. Per Brajesh, it will be released as free plugin within 3-6 months after it comes out. So you’ve got the premium members testing the gallery plugin and Brajesh improving on it before it’s released as a free plugin.
@swaymedia, sorry you feel that way, but I hope you at least come back once and see that you’ve made a mistake.
Thanks for posting that snippet, mercime.
Good for everyone to know!
@swaymedia
I am sorry if you got confused by buddydev.com for budypress. I will like to know, where you got the feeling that Buddypress is charging?,I have made it a clear point on the membership page of my site that It is NOT associated with buddypress.org, still if there is something confusing, that must be removed.
BuddyPress is not chargin anything,It is free(as already mentioned above),
Yes, I am charging a membership fee for access premium plugins on my site(and this preticular plugin will be available to you as free within 3-6 months as mercime already pointed.)I have already promised this in another thread here, I am sorry you still got confused.
Just wait for few months, I am sure, I will put it as free on/before bp 1.3 comes out.
Thanks
Brajesh
@Brajesh… never feel sorry for someone who can’t read properly… just point the fact, period. If you start feeling sorry each time someone whine about the price of your memberships, you will work hard time on that, and you loose interests…
i have the same situation on my site… i have “freebies”… accessible when people are subscribing a membership… lol… the freebies are available freely, but you need to pay for support. i never charged for the scripts themselves, but people continue to whine about that even on other public forums, that they know i lied by charging for scripts that are supposed to be free… people think we owe them all our lives and they want free things only.
personally, i would pay 500$ for a complete buddypress with “all you can eat”…
its threads like this that makes me feel the pain of http://ma.tt when he encounters *for-pay* WP stuff .. and particular the wpmu drama!
anyhoo!
Well, If you want to access premium plugins you pay for it or wait !
Swaymedia I think you should try to see the perspective of the people that are actually taking the time to write these extensive plugins like Brajesh his Gallery component. This is not something you can do easily it takes a lot of time, effort and support (after release).
Imagine you working hundreds of hours on something and then giving it away for free and spending most of your free time working on it. Having to deal with people who are STILL complaining and asking for more features without paying anything for it. Frankly that’s a big part of the life of a BP developer right now, and your reply makes it even more clear how ungrateful people can be.
You would not even have BuddyPress if it was’nt for people like Brajesh who work their ass of for free. If you still want more and are not satisfied then you should create it yourself, for free! And don’t forget to release it to all of the other users and give support and handle all the complaints and feature requests!
Looking forward to your plugins!
edit: another thing.. I’m a member of BuddyDev and the cool thing is that you can directly ask for features you would like to see developed. Right now we (Brajesh, Mercime and others) are brainstorming about Default Global Widgets (for blogs) Facebook Connect Pro and many other cool ideas, which actually have a good chance of being made by Brajesh.. Combine that with some great plugins like “Let a user choose a theme on signup” and the upcoming Gallery component and you have a huge bang for your buck
i’m a new member on that site too… i paid my small membership yesterday just because i think to support Brajesh in his efforts… i want him to focus on his work instead of searching for small jobs… so i paid my little fee. i do not have access to the gallery yet, but i don’t mind… some other addons on his site are useful right away… and some could be by default in BP if you ask me.. lol
@ All,
Please do not forget, in every developing community, where the developers try to find a way to stay confirm to the Open Source philosophy and also make some profit, it always comes to this point.
The idea of donating does not work. I developed free software by my self .
Some plugins were downloaded thousand of times, but Paypal Donation was always less.
Not more than going out for some beer!
Look what happens to bbpress where ck stopped at least after she got tired of doing things for nothing.
What I want to say is, let’s be careful not to spoil people, who are thinking a lot about our all problems.
Of cause for most of us our busyness is build on Open Source Software.
So we all need the freedom of GPL.
In my opinion premium memberships are a great idea of having the source still GPL. People need to earn money.
I like it much more as the idea of free software with ads. Then you need to pay for ads free one…
I immediately would pay premium memberships for bp-events and other software around buddypress. This will offer stable software, you have a quick support forum and you will find some other stuff like an extra bonus in the premium area.
I’m looking for a free future without ripping of peoples engagement.
Code should be free under the GPL, but support has value. Unfortunately it’s difficult to charge people for your time through a website, which is why developers tend to charge for code or put up a paywall.
Someone make a BuddyPress site where your paypal is part of registration, and every time someone in the developer group marks a forum topic as resolved, it invoices paypal for $1 from the topic starter.
That, would be the best way to make money as a dev without freelancing or consulting, in my opinion.
JJJ-
I agree with your argument about the dangers of paywalls to OS projects. But I just wanted to correct one issue. The GPL does not say anything about free as in cost. It is about freedoms of the end user.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html
Most people in vibrant OS communities like the WordPress ecosystem, are moving beyond the spirit of the GPL, to a more utopian, share and share alike vision. There’s nothing wrong with that if it happens. But the GPL has never been about free as in cost.
#Jeff is absolutely right… but with a difference… i suggest you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGPL about how the LGPL is misused from people willing to use a GPL license to sell products…
It’s sad that people have to apologize and jump through all kinds of hoops just for wanting to get paid for their work. GPL is free, open code. Beyond that what people do with it is their business.
ok @nexia, stop whining about me whining, now that I know its going to be free in 3 – 6 months, its not such a bad deal.. and I KNEW that buddydev is seperate… I just thought that BuddyPress NOT buddyDev should have put this feature in.
thanks brajesh
Anyone is free to built this feature and charge for it or not. That’s why it called open source It is on the BuddyPress Roadmap but not until quite a ways out. In the meantime, I’m sure we’ll see other free and perhaps even paid solutions by others. If any of those are half good… perhaps they will end up being the solution that BuddyPress officially adopts and rolls into the core. Who knows.
@David: Is it confirmed that it will make it’s way in BP-Core. I can’t find it on the newest Roadmap anymore: https://buddypress.org/about/roadmap/
@21cdb: Milestone 1.3+ hasn’t been placed on that roadmap, so a lot of ideas and features are still behind the scenes. But Andy told multiple times that it was going to get into the core, be it now or later..
Premium well made plugins and themes deserve to be paid for. Some people actually do this for a living. 
I’m not Andy but I expect to see a core album component in 1.3.
Hmm. The Roadmap has changed quite a bit since i last saw it. Anyway. I’m sure we’ll get a decent album component at some point.
This is not a complaint, I promise. @djpaul – that highlights one for the issues we all deal with with plugins and core and why more information (and I distinguish “information” from promises”) from everyone can be so crucial.
Case in point: #brajesh is close to completion on his photo component. I have paid for it and I fully assume all risk. If a core photo component is < 6 mo away then I will, no doubt, be left with a choice to make and I will feel a little sorry for Brajesh and all the work he’s done.
It is what it is. My biggest fear, however, is using a 3rd party photo plugin, getting users to load tons of pics, and soon thereafter seeing a core photo component that is just different enough that it renders all my uploads from the 3rd party plugin useless and in need of re-uploading.
What could be useful would be guidance to those building components that dance around core things (such as this topic) Guidance such as: Hey, mr Dev Dude, we’re planning on X in 3 months. It will do roughly a, b, and c as it’s core functionality. Duplicate that if you wish, but just so you know.
I’d bet you’d; find resources from 3rd party dudes shifted appropriately instead of many wheels being re-invented. I know this is the dearth of all open source 3rd party setups. Just thinking out loud
Thanks mike – that is one of my fears, too. Especially with photos and media…
