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As part of my commitment to help advance the current state of embedded web technology, I’m happy to announce that I have formed a new company, Khrona, to bring some of my software to market! This is pretty big step for me but I ultimately decided that this was the best way to ensure the long-term potentiality of my technology.
This development will impact the Awesomium library in several ways. Existing releases of Awesomium will no longer be maintained or supported. Future releases of the library will be conducted through Khrona under a new set of commercial licenses. More information about the upcoming release of v1.5 as well as details about the licenses offered shall be announced soon– you may subscribe to receive updates via e-mail on this page.
Awesomium won’t be Khrona’s only product (though it will be where most of its resources will be allocated)– I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet but I’ve got another software project in development that has quite the potential to change the way we browse the web. To stay in the loop, make sure to bookmark the future home of Khrona at KHRONA.COM!
P.S., For those wondering about the timing of this announcement, I must assure you that this has nothing to do with CCP Games’ use of Awesomium in EVE Online– the formation of Khrona was planned more than a month ago and so this is merely coincidence.
Hey there, I’m Adam Simmons and this is my blog. I generally use this space to write about software (usually my own), games, emerging web technology, 3D stuff, and other nifty things as well as post photos and videos that are relevant to my life.
15 Responses to Meet ‘Khrona’, My New Company!
blubb
August 17th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Congrats!
Fidora
August 17th, 2009 at 7:26 am
How will this change affect akarui?
Is it too going to be released under commerical license?
JasonL
August 17th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hmm. I do have mixed feelings. Its good that you might make some money here, but It’s sad to see a great free product like this get commercialized.
If we have built a product with the older versions, not supported I realized, are we still able to use it under a GPL?
mleko
August 17th, 2009 at 10:47 am
One more open source going down the drain
adam
August 17th, 2009 at 10:57 am
@ Fidora,
Akarui will continue development at Khrona and may or may not be released under a new license.
@ JasonL,
Changes in license do not apply retroactively, the earlier versions that I have released under the LGPL will stay under LGPL and you may continue to use them in your project(s).
@ mleko,
I’m sorry you feel that way.
David Marsh
August 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I wish you the best of luck AJ!
Ash McConnell
August 17th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
@ mleko
Opensource stuff only lasts for a little time before the original author gets dragged onto something that he can earn a living with. I think going commercial will ensure that adam can dedicate the time to it (hopefully) and ultimately lead to a better (and more lasting) set of libs for us to use.
steve
August 17th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Best of luck with your company.
You might want to consider an open-source strand to your development anyway, it can be a great way of marketing a small company. The most practical way to make a viable business out of this is the ‘Open Core’ model: http://is.gd/2lqub . Most commercial open source companies are gravitating this way now, including my own.
But of course, your decision entirely. Either way I wish you the best!
adam
August 17th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
@ Marsh,
Thanks a bunch!
@ Ash,
Yup, that’s the plan.
@ steve,
Thanks a lot sinbad! I’m definitely considering offering some open-source software in the future, thanks for the link!
Daniel
August 17th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I think this is a wise move for your future – it’s awesome to make money out of something you revel in. Plus you have a niche!
So are you going to incorporate it and pursue Khrona full time (after any current education of course)?
(You should turn Akarui into a cheaper version of Scaleform – that would have lots of potential
)
Ash McConnell
August 18th, 2009 at 4:02 am
I forgot to mention, good luck AJ, not that you will need it.
James
August 18th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Congrats man! The company sounds like a great idea. Can’t wait to here how you license it. Though I hope you take Steve’s advice and try the Open-Core model. My $0.02.
Best of luck!
Klaim
August 18th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Congrats, it’s a nice move
I just hope the licencing of future Awesomium will not stop poor devs like me to use new versions but I’m sure you’ll think about that
I know I need the security features of the coming version so I’ll have to get it anyway for my game.
Anyway I like the Open-Core model too and think the Sinbad’s advice is a good one.
madmark
August 19th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Good luck Adam.
Alas, this probably means that I will have to go another direction for GUI solutions in my projects.
Adam Hill
August 28th, 2009 at 8:16 am
From one Adam to another:
While the capitalist in me is glad you are getting to start your own company and having a hand in shaping your own destiny.
The open sourcer in me is sad you are closing off all support *after* you have generated a lot of buzz and goodwill by open sourcing your project in the beginning.
I wish you would consider a model like Artifex does with Ghostscript – one to two release behind for GPL, $$$ licensee or full GPL projects get the current code base for free.
My project was thinking about using Chromium just because of the cool (can’t really use Awesome as an adverb when talking about your product) WPF.Chromium wrapper from Chris Cavanaugh. I will be relegated to the forked version now
Anyway… best of luck in your endevors. Owning your own business is the most rewarding and the most stressfull things you can do (except maybe for having kids!)
Stay Awesome!