<h2>Is Firebird really free?</h2>
<p>If you’re expecting some sensation, I’ll not make you happy.
Shortly, yes, Firebird is free, completely. You can use it wherever you
want and you don’t have to pay anything nor release sources of your
application nor …</p>
<p>On the other hand, the whole truth, considering all the edge cases
and consequences, is different. To keep high quality of final product,
keep adding new features, provide bug fixes – simply moving forward –
the creator needs some resources. If these resources will not be
available, it will be effectively dead. The resources I’m here talking
about, in case of Firebird, are people doing full time or regular
development. These people have families, houses, hobbies, … And for all
of these items you need money (in our society <img src="http://blog.cincura.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="wp-smiley"> ). They’re not doing it for fun (only), but also for living as well.</p>
<p>So Firebird actually needs some money to keep moving. It doesn’t have
licenses to buy or something like that. We’re simply relying on the
fact, that people using it, similar to people working on it, do love it.
And are educated enough to realize all this and provide, even small,
support. Thus next time you’ll be deploying your application with
Firebird, think about sending $10 or even $1. I bet it’s nothing for you
(compared to price of the application or money you’re paying for toilet
paper in your office). And ten thousand people (not much) donating $10
makes a huge difference. It’s not only about few donating $10000.</p>
<p>And by the way, Firebird is not “just” engine, but tools around too: .NET driver <img src="http://blog.cincura.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="wp-smiley"> , Java driver, documentation, QA, …, you name it.</p>