[Qt-interest] Difference between commercial and open source release of Qt 4.7.4

[Paul Miller]

On 10/3/2011 8:05 AM, Thiago Macieira wrote:
> On Monday, 3 de October de 2011 14:50:23 Marco Borm wrote:
>> Until today I recommended using the qt-package provided from the linux
>> distributor(debian,redhead...) and NOT to install self compiled qt-libs
>> possibly breaking the system/other applications and/or patching
>> LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
>> But now we have some kind of mini-fork with qt-opensource and qt-digia
>> which isn't using the same source and unavailable as standard
>> distribution package.
>
> Now? All distributions have done a "mini-fork" as you call it. All of them
> apply patches.
>
> In the Qt governance, we call those "vendor branches". Anyone can make them
> and apply fixes that they need, even change features for their specific needs
> (think embedded systems). They just need to be clearly marked as such.
>
> The official Qt with a pristine version number comes only from the Qt project.
> And the project does not produce a commercial version anymore.
>
>> What to recommend now?
>
> Your choice.

If you're doing commercial software I recommend buying the commercial 
license. You get to link statically (if you need to), and more 
importantly you get very good support. Friday I discovered a problem 
affecting a small (but not insignificant) section of our customer base 
on a new product. Filed a support case and got a patch within a few hours.

To me, that's worth a couple grand a year.