@Ceri said:
hi I was wondering why it was that you think Pd has been kept as a free piece of software and not been bought and developed in the way MAX has been.
Free software isn't for sale like that. Anyone can take it and develop commercial software from Pd if they like, and the source will stay free, to continue, to fork or whatever (or I think you can even close your source so it's pretty liberal) . Puredata seems different from Max, which is a program/application to me, while Pd retains the essence of a language, both a tool and the means of producing tools. It doesn't quite have the boundaries of presumed workflow put there, for better or worse, by mainstream applications. The separation of engine and interface is really nice too, as desiredata is showing, and you can embed small Pds like fixed point Pda with potential for mobile games and apps. There's some things missing from Pd to make it perfect, but because it's very active maybe those things will happen one day.
@Ceri said:
To me it seems to allow greater development, as more people can have a go at providing useful tools.
Shoulders of giants.
@Ceri said:
How important as a user do you feel your contributions are to the future developement of the programme. And what does the PD community mean to you.
It's a growing community, that's a good sign, with a wide range of skills and interests, which makes it strong. And there's an increasing sum thing so everyone gets back what they put in squared (or something 
And it has wide scope so it keeps me interested in things that I might not otherwise have time for like messing with physical electronics and sensors. Most of all, practically, it's a vehicle and platform doing good experimental research. To have a community with lots of expertise and a wealth of open code and documentation I feel pretty confident to tackle things I wouldn't dare try before, because someone can normally help me out if I need.
There you go , I speeked my branze and that's my last 2p on the subject
Hope your Pd study/report turns out good,
Andy
