Ok...perhaps the previous article should have been entitled "IS iZ3D Going Open Source?"

In a new development, Vadim Asadov, Business Development Manager for iZ3D, revealed that as a means to transition to an open source initiative, they are looking to raise the required funds from gamers - $150 a transaction - to a total goal of $800,000 US.  If they reach their target, the drivers go Open Source.

"...in case iZ3D will not reach the above targeted amount, prior to June 30, 2012, the company will decide one of two options: 1. Open the code even though $800,000 are not reached  2. Cancel Open Source Project and refund all received payments" - Vadim Asadov, Busines Development Manager, iZ3D

While we wish iZ3D success in their endeavors, this new detail was not shared with us until a few moments ago.  Had we known, we would have framed the previous story differently, and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Share your thoughts below!

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This is great news, but I am a bit apprehensive. I mean, $800K seems like a lot for such a niche market. Granted, I will give at least $100 (maybe more) but will there be enough people that generous. I don't know. But I wish them the best of luck.

Hi, Cybereality!

Thank you for your wish! We hope we can raise this amount (or may be a bit less) and we are going to spend part of this money to setup everything for code usage, modification and initial software engineers group support

Have you considered using Kickstarter? You will get a lot more attention, and people can rest easy knowing that their money will be in the hands of a reputable third party that people already trust.

It is really the only way I can see this getting enough traction to attain anywhere near $800,000.

Giving a company thats pretty much out of business money, and trusting them to refund you if they dont meet their targets, seems a bit of a stretch. I mean, they'd really be no reason for them not to just spend that on closing down payments/bonuses/salaries for its staff, and then just declare bankruptcy.

PalmerTech has it right, they should put it on kickstarter if they are really serious about this.

Hi, PalmerTech!

Yes, I've considered Kickstarter, but they have general audience, which I think is far from 3D area - so we decided to start within community first.

Hi, WiredEarp!

I have 8 companies / projects running (www.neurok.com, www.i-rates.com, etc) and believe me my reputation as well as our investors' reputation (CMI is world third largest display company, Troika VC is most known Russian VC fund) are significant barrier to do such tricks. We setup separate escrow account for this project and we'll keep separate from iZ3D operational account up to the deadline we setup.

I know it is a matter of trust and it is up to each person to decide to believe us or not. During 13 years of this project existence we did not give any particular reason to have concerns about our words and I hope we'll not do it in future as well.

I could see where iZ3D is coming from. With Kickstarter, they could raise $795,000, but lose everything because the actual target is $800,000. This way they might be able to go Open Source if the funding results are significantly lower.

Regards,
Neil

I also think $800,000 is a ridiculous amount for such a niche piece of software, even if it may correspond to its real cost in development. Blender raised $100,000 to go open source and it had far more users and support than the iZ3D driver. I hope it'll go well for you, but I really doubt you'll be even close to that amount.

I don't think trust is going to be an issue within our small community, but outside people will probably feel iffy. Being able to possibly accept a smaller amount is definitely a big advantage over Kickstarter, though.

I plan on donating a significant amount (Probably over $1000 USD), but $800,000 is a lofty goal. That would be enough to pay between 5 and 10 good professional developers for an entire full-time year of work, assuming they are US based. If you look to equally skilled programmers in international labor markets, then you could probably hire between 15 and 30 developers for the same amount of time. It is not inconceivable that a team like that could recreate what IZ3D has done and more, especially considering the new abundance of 3D documentation out there, never mind the help that the community could lend for free.

Considering that most people already have great , well supported 3D solutions in Nvidia and TriDef, the only people left will be the most hardcore of the hardcore, 3D buffs that are using older/unique hardware. I am part of that group, but I don't see there being more than a couple hundred people on the whole of the internet who would pay a significant sum of money for this. It would be pretty amazing if IZ3D manages to raise even $100,000, my bet is that it will be closer to $10,000 at best.

Hi, guys!

It is hard for me to discuss the amount we set because of two reasons:
1. It is not a personal decision, but company decision
2. I know exactly how much it cost to have few years development our driver and this amount is multiple times smaller

And Neil I did not understand you logic here: "With Kickstarter, they could raise $795,000, but lose everything because the actual target is $800,000." at all... I'm sure if we'll raise $795,000 instead of $800,000 highly likely we'll open the code - it was stated.

As I mentioned we can start Kickstarter tomorrow - no problem for us.

And PalmerTech, thank you for consideration of such a high donation

The problem with Kickstarter.com is that you only get the money if you raise 100% or more of your goal. So if you do it that way and only got $750,000 with a goal of $800,000, the project would be cancelled and the money refunded, no matter what you do.

Hi BlackQ,

It's not iZ3D that is the limiting factor, it's Kickstarter. If the target isn't met, Kickstarter returns the funding - it's not iZ3D's choice. Now, if iZ3D set a smaller target, like say $400,000 US, donations can amount even higher than this goal, and Kickstarter won't get in the way of iZ3D getting this additional funding.

Regards,
Neil

ok - clear! Now I need to think how to combine Kickstarter with our program - give me few days for it...

I already posted message about kickstarter for iz3d, I think it's good idea, we can monitoring about how much money need for goal.

I already have iz3d all license otput, and plan on may or june support iz3d driver 150$, but for me interesting info about if we reach goal 800k, who work with this "software'...for public users who whanna used this 3d solutions? For this need programmer/ingenerig ect....work for free...I don't think so

Hi, Earmack!

I've requested iZ3D management about Kickstarter permission already, but still need to frame whole scheme... if we'll put lower amount to Kickstarter hoping to get some more from iZ3D site... need to think about it

I assume we'll setup some initial fund for core group to keep driver code, support etc...

If (or when) the iz3D driver goes open-source, I will volunteer to help maintain it. Was doing research to produce my own 3D driver, but there's probably no way I could compete with all the work iz3D has done up until this point. I'm sure there are a few others who would volunteer their time for a project like this.

Hi, cybereality!

Thank you for your help and support!

I don't know much about coding, but I think it's time for me to learn. Or at least to invest time by using whatever tools you provide to help improve game profiles.
I'm all for opening up the source code. It's good to see iZ3D coming back towards us. I can invest 1.000€, however the 800.000$ goal is in my opinion way too high for me to give it directly without guarantees.
If you go with a Kickstarter project, then I'm in.

Hi, BlackShark!

Thank you for your support! We already have a meeting in iZ3D on Monday to discuss Kickstart and implementation on it. I'll keep everybody updated.

@BlackQ: If you guys do Kickstarter, I would recommend setting a more realistic goal. If you set it too high (like $800K) then there is a chance it won't make it. Then everyone loses.

it is not only goal issue (which we need to agree with shareholders), but also question about more than one money streams - via our store and via Kickstarter and how to combine them. Imagine we got 50K from iZ3D store and 750K from Kickstarter - goal is reached, but Kickstarter will refund all money

It's too bad that iZ3D doesn't support OpenGL, because I'm sure there are a lot of GNU/Linux users who would be willing to help out if there was a chance the driver could someday run on their platform, myself included.

Hi, Mr_Bumpy!

I hope after opening code driver has a better change to get OpenGL support - we always had resources dilemma to go to OGL because there are some many versions of it.

What news about kickstarter?

We've discussed it whole day today - need to clarify Amazon fee - it is not clear if it refundable or not - we don't want to have a situation when in case of amount goal fail everybody will get -2-3% of their payments... Kickstarter fee is applicable only if project is successful and this is fine, but we are trying to clarify if the same is applicable for transactions fee

hope to finalize everything tomorrow (Tuesday)

Any updates?

Not yet - we need to finish video for KickStarter and pass their approval process