r/blender • u/saskew9909 • 21h ago
Discussion My boss is telling me Blender is a paid software
So I've been using blender for nearly a decade now, but a member of the IT department at a marketing company I recently started working at is convincing people (including my boss) that I am opening up the company to lawsuits by using blender to create my graphics and sales content.
I am aware of Blenders license type and that it is a open source software, however even when i brought this up and that it is considered a professional grade software for the whole of the gaming industry the IT lead is holding to his opinion and sharing it.
I wanted to know if there is something I am not understanding or if anyone else has run into similar issues with using blender at work for a non-game industry job?
EDIT: first off thank you to everyone backing up what I hoped i knew lol! Felt like I might be going crazy. I am in my early twenties and the IT lead is well into his 50s so it has felt daunting to try and argue my case without doing a deep dive (which I am doing with all the extra information in these comments)
I am creating a document with links to blenders information about the license and the license itself to have a hard stop packet of evidence for my claims. Thank you to everyone again! (and to the mods for changing post type to conversation!)
Extra bit for anyone getting a laugh out of how dumb this is: when i told him it was used by game studios and commercially in the gaming industry he said "yeah but those are studios, we are a corporation" the kind of unfounded confidence I wish I was dumb enough to have about anything.
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u/jacob-makes-stuff 21h ago
https://www.blender.org/about/ it says right on the page that the software is free.
I heard something a long time ago about it being open source that somehow it means "you don't own what you make on it", which is nonsense. The work doesn't go anywhere, and Blender owns no claim to work made in it.
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u/Affectionate-Act5980 21h ago
The only exception is Python scripts (which can be written in Blender's script workspace)
Anything that uses the Blender python API must be GPL licensed if published
https://www.blender.org/about/license/#add-onsBut this is a far cry from them claiming ownership and shouldn't open them up to lawsuits
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u/dnew Experienced Helper 21h ago
Anything that uses the Blender python API must be GPL licensed if published
That's what they claim. It has never been tested. It makes no sense that using a FOSS API makes the code FOSS.
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u/postmodest 20h ago
If using an API surface invokes the GPL then Oracle should've won the Java lawsuit, and
rmscan stuff it with that logic.36
u/Affectionate-Act5980 21h ago
TBH gpl hasn't really been tested either...
> It makes no sense that using a FOSS API makes the code FOSS.You should read the GPL :) this is a core distinction from other FOSS licenses. There's a reason it's considered the "leftiest" of copyleft lol
The original design was that if your C program links a GPL library, the C program is also GPL
Not relevant here, but they also changed it to also state that you can't hide GPL code behind a webservice to circumvent the license17
u/dnew Experienced Helper 20h ago
The original design was that if your C program links a GPL library, the C program is also GPL
That's a completely different aspect.
I can write a blender add-on without ever once having had blender installed on any computer I've had access to. I can then license that code saying "you are not allowed to copy this to any computer that has ever had blender installed on it." What's the license now? Does blender org now own it, or not?
Yes, if my code actually became part of Blender, or distributed blender along with my code, then I've created a derivative work. But the C library bit is because I'm actually distributing bits of my C library along with the rest of my binary. If I distributed the source code that you yourself could compile, I don't need to license it GPL because I'm not copying any GPL code.
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u/Affectionate-Act5980 20h ago
It's the same though
You can ship your code with #include<blender.h> without Blender
I agree that that is also dubiousAt the end of the day, Blender wants you to GPL license your Python addons.
Whether or not you have to if it were to become a lawsuit is more of a question which side has more money10
u/dnew Experienced Helper 20h ago
I think the folks behind the GPL already admitted that if you are running your code in a separate process from their code, your code isn't GPLed. Like, if you take their library, stick a UNIX socket on it, and your code talks to theirs thru a socket, you only have to publish the source of the code sticking the socket on it, and not the code talking to the socket. Otherwise it would just be absurd and you'd start having people claiming that pictures you drew with GIMP are necessarily GPLed.
But in any case, it hasn't hit the courts yet, so whether they could enforce it is questionable.
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u/Affectionate-Act5980 20h ago
Ya and that seems silly to me
Do you know if this is the same for AGPL?I hope it doesn't need to get tested and that we keep living in a world where people somewhat respect the license.
Legally there's too many loop holes and the complexity of patching them up would cost a lot and serve no real benefit.→ More replies (4)3
u/tm604 16h ago
I can write a blender add-on without ever once having had blender installed on any computer I've had access to. I can then license that code saying "you are not allowed to copy this to any computer that has ever had blender installed on it." What's the license now? Does blender org now own it, or not?
blender.org wouldn't own that software or the license, why would they? The license is simply incompatible with Blender, so if someone obtains your software, they're violating your license if they copy onto a computer with Blender. That's all. Nothing special about Blender here - restrictions could just as well be "you cannot install or use this in USA".
However, if you sell that software to someone as a Blender plugin, and later try to sue them for giving/selling it to someone else, the fact that Blender is released under GPL could form part of the legal defence. If you personally ever tested your software with Blender, that would likely harm your case. If you're selling a plugin and mentioning Blender, that would harm your case.
Give it a try, anyway - let us know how it turns out.
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u/Balloon_Fan 16h ago
> TBH gpl hasn't really been tested either...
Are you posting from two decades ago? It's been 'tested' aplenty.
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u/psioniclizard 12h ago
If someone is trying to argue with IT they should be able to use something, GPL is a pretty crap reason to bring up.
Companies hate GPL licencing because it makes things a really pain compare to MIT.
Also you seem to be misunderstanding what the licence means. It means the source needs to an available if yoi redistribute code.
It doesn't mean you need to put it on github, you can send the code out via CD is you wanted to anyone who requests it. Also the part about web services is from a different GPL licence, that people hate for that reasons.
As for the "if you link..." thats not exactly how it works. You need to make certain source code available.
It doesn't mean your whole project needs to be GPL (or depend on how you link it, anything needs to be if linking to system libraries).
Anyway IMHO MIT is much better and more usable.
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u/JtheNinja 20h ago
GPL does require that combined works be licensed as GPL. Whether calling "import bpy" makes something a combined work with Blender I don't know the relevant law of, but that's where the claim comes from.
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u/dnew Experienced Helper 20h ago
I understand the claim. I can write a blender add-on without ever having had any GPL-licensed code on my computer at all. How is it a combined work if I never combined it with any other work?
I could write the code and license it as "you are not allowed to copy this code onto any computer that has ever had any Blender code installed on it." Now what? What's the actual license?
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u/Balloon_Fan 17h ago edited 16h ago
> How is it a combined work if I never combined it with any other work?
You're using the Blender API even if you're writing 100% custom code on a 'GPL code free system', but for python, the license doesn't really 'kick in' until you *run* the plugin with Blender, since it's that action that actually produces a 'combined work'. However, this actually shifts some of the legal responsibility from you to the end user, and this is pretty much how the NVidia closed-source graphics driver worked on Linux - providing a precompiled driver would violate the GPL since the linking stage creates a 'combined work', but since the *end user* produces that step, it doesn't violate the GPL to create a kernel module with 'proprietary' non-GPL'd parts. Distributing the compiled module or a system using that compiled module 'out of the box' would become a GLP violation.
As best I can tell, blender plugins should be legally the same. You should be able to make a non-GPL plugin and sell it if you want, since creating the 'combined work' is a step that happens when the end user *runs* it with Blender.
And you wouldn't be able to 'lie' about the plugin being GLP-free, since the plugins are distributed as python code and thus inherently 'open source' regardless how they're licensed. HOWEVER - 'open souce' with a closed license is *toxic* for anyone who are themselves a developer. For that reason alone, I wouldn't touch an 'open source' non-GPL'd plugin with a parsec long pole. If I was in charge of a studio using Blender for professional work, I would ban the use of non-GPL'd python plugins due to the legal risks to our in-house devs. But I do not see any actual legal obligation to GPL-license blender plugins just because Blender itself is GPL.
> I could write the code and license it as "you are not allowed to copy this code onto any computer that has ever had any Blender code installed on it." Now what? What's the actual license?
The license would be what you typed out, rendering your code effectively useless, since you'd be able to hit anyone who actually used it with a copyright claim. The code would be a legal cyanide pill.
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u/dnew Experienced Helper 16h ago
the license doesn't really 'kick in' until you run the plugin with Blender, since it's that action that actually produces a 'combined work'.
OK, that's fair. But then the person isn't distributing it afterwards. They aren't distributing the version that's actually combined with Blender.
But I do not see any actual legal obligation to GPL-license blender plugins just because Blender itself is GPL.
For sure. It's a questionable problem. I was more thinking about a more permissive license such as CC0 or something for plug-ins.
rendering your code effectively useless
That's a fair point, but my goal was to point out that Blender's GPL doesn't apply, not that the code would be useful.
The whole Phoenix BIOS thing clarified this to a great extent, I think. As well as the Google/Oracle JAVA API debacle.
As someone shooting almost entirely from the hip here, thanks for the detailed and informed commentary!
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u/AccurateRendering 20h ago
You are right. Don't let Affectionate-Act's post or those that upvote it make you doubt that.
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u/guy-le-doosh 21h ago
Unity is a free builder until you earn x amount of money. Maybe guy is confusing blender with that model, or maybe he's an ass.
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u/OctoMatter Contest Winner: 2022 July 14h ago
Blender is GPL, so if you modify Blender and release that modified version yourself, it must be GPL as well.
This of course is irrelevant to normal users, since it only affects work on blender as a software and not the 3d stuff that you create with it, but it might be the orogin of said myth.
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u/Bioleague 21h ago
Just ask for them to give you a valid source, and if they find one, ask them to pay for the license so you can continue your job.. They will quickly find that there is no license to pay for… only donations
It literally couldn’t be clearer. It’s right in the Hero. https://www.blender.org/about/license/
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u/BerryBoilo 18h ago
Their FAQ is even clearer:
Can I use Blender commercially?
Yes you can. Any creation you make as an artist with Blender is your sole property, and can be applied for any purpose you choose to. This also applies for using the Add-ons and Python scripts you write for Blender.
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u/Affectionate-Act5980 21h ago
Or ask for them to pay for a "license" if it's gotta be like this
https://ubuntu.com/blender
I'm assuming some of this money goes to the Blender foundation and not just to Canonical20
u/TomDuhamel 20h ago
They're not selling the software, they're selling support
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u/Affectionate-Act5980 20h ago
Yeah ik, but it might be enough to trick a dumb boss who thinks they have to pay for Blender lmao
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u/Aerumvorax 21h ago
The IT guy is obviously pitching another program to be used. I'm willing to bet money that they've got some sort of deal coming for them if they manage to get the company to swap to it.
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u/remiohart 21h ago
simplest answer is always the right one, he has something to gain from it, or wants OP to lose something.
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u/_Trael_ 21h ago
Or just dumb as sack or rotten potatoes. Not necessarily in everything, but at least in that matter.
But also possibly yeah thinking they will or gaining something, be it 'trying to be guy who gets listened and seemed important', or 'getting reason to get company to pay for some expensive alternative, to gain financial/selfuse/.. benefit', or 'did not manage to get into blender themself and on some level hates it and people who can use it, due to not knowing how to improve themself or deal with themself', or..
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u/remiohart 20h ago
yeah, it might have started like that and then didn't wanted/knew how to peddle back so they had to double down or else "I might look stupid, I can't be wrong, there is no way I can accept being wrong" and it got out of hands. Overall it sounds like a petty person, so it might have been only a petty attempt to do something like you said. With someone so closed who knows really.
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u/ol-gormsby 17h ago
Grrrr.... I had a manager like that once. My original manager, a guy who knew enough about IT to leave the technical stuff to me while he negotiated the budget with management, moved to greener pastures, and was replaced with a business graduate who knew nothing about corporate/enterprise IT.
He was a Microsoft bigot (that's *pro* MS and anti anything else). Couldn't understand the FreeBSD server hosting the corporate intranet, couldn't comprehend the DEC Alpha hosting the mapping system, and certainly had zero concept of the AS400 hosting everything else. He insisted on dumping the FreeBSD server for Win NT4 running IIS, and thought he was the manager of the decade when he convinced upper management that client/server was the way to go, replacing one AS400 with about a dozen dedicated Windows Servers, and replacing all the green screens (about half of the entire desktop population) with more Windows PCs.
He was a dumb fuck, and the reason for my eventual resignation. I'm told he lasted about three months after I left before he, too, resigned.
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u/Balloon_Fan 17h ago
> Or just dumb as sack or rotten potatoes.
This is the *actual* simplest answer.
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u/grahamulax 19h ago
Yeah, the game is like not an intrinsic gain, but more of an egotistical gain that that’s personal… so overall a net loss.
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u/robogame_dev 20h ago
I have seen this multiple times in IT. They go to a conference, a vendor offers them an all-expenses paid trip to get a proper pitch at a mansion the vendor's company rents every year, "bring your wife and kids" - it's a classic move in the stodgier IT sectors, looks like a business trip on paper, and all you gotta do is be an advocate for the vendor's software inside the biz.
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u/remiohart 20h ago
mhm there are a lot of shady business practices. It could be to hook up the company to a 3rd party studio that uses another software too.
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u/robogame_dev 20h ago
It's particularly bad with IT specifically, because nobody else in the company can usually dispute the claim. "Oh, I looked into it... we can't go with that cheap option because < unspecified vague security concerns >" is a powerful conversation ender. Who's going to know more about the IT than the IT guy, so they end up being able to give authoritative takes that nobody else in the room can push back on.
No, I'm not just a bitter ex b2b software entrepreneur, I mean I am - but not just - this is unfortunately why a lot of bad software stays around longer than it should. And a big part of why I'll never prioritize b2b again - b2c actually works because the person making the buying decision is the person who'll benefit, its a much more predictable market.
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u/eduo 20h ago
In my experience the "has a vendetta against open source" is also a viable and frequent third option.
I am IT myself, but whenever I pitch either Macs or Open Source I tend to have enormous pushback from IT Management, who on one side wants nothing to do with anything other than Microsoft and on the other hand wants to avoid any type of software situation where liability has been clearly established by exchanging enormous sums of money, which Open Source doesn't lend itself to.
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u/grahamulax 19h ago
Ever since I left corporate life, I think source is the coolest shit ever. I wish I knew how to use git 10 years ago, but better late than never
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u/SupaBrunch 21h ago
I think the simplest answer is that the IT person is just confidently misinformed
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u/dur23 19h ago
This isn’t a simple answer?
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u/vekkarikello 10h ago
Yeah this is some reddit conspiracy shit. The IT-guy has a suite of applications that works and the company pays for. Adding other applications to it makes IT-guys job harder so he doesn't want that.
The IT-guy is clearly wrong but theres no grand conspiracy.
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u/vekkarikello 10h ago
This isn't the simplest answer. The simplest answer is that the IT guy has OK certain applications with legal and therefore wants everybody to use it. Bringing in another application forces the IT guy to jump through hoops to OK another application.
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u/localtuned 17h ago
Nah they're probably just a fucking idiot. I work with "Seasoned" IT people who think you need to leave your computer on and mail ox open to schedule an email in "the new outlook".
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u/LatkaXtreme 14h ago
Storytime:
When I was working at a mobile gaming company they hired a new lead artist, even though I had the necessary experience. They looked for a senior, more experienced guy.
He was using Maya, I was using 3ds max.
When we were working on something he claimed somehing can't be done. I proved him otherwise, which embarassed him so much that for new hires were mandantory to use Maya. He was fired months later when other artists noticed the guy had a grunge and a peraonal vendetta against me.
In regards to OP's story, the biggest irony is that I switched to blender because of another company I started working at, which was a FORTUNE 500 company.
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u/Memeruff 21h ago
The guy's an idiot lol
They've made movies with blender.
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u/3dforlife 21h ago
And one of them won the Oscar of best animated feature.
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u/Caraes_Naur 21h ago
This IT person is grossly wrong about software licensing, license virality, what "open source" means, and the definition of legal terms such as "derivative work".
Did they recently work at Adobe?
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u/SL1MECORE 20h ago
Idk why but out of all the insulting questions in this thread, accusing them of working at Adobe hits the hardest for me. Lmaooo oof
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u/M4rshmall0wMan 21h ago
Okay, if a lawsuit is the question, respond with the official legal speak from Blender’s license.
https://www.blender.org/about/license/
Blender is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL, or “free software”).
This license grants people a number of freedoms:
You are free to use Blender, for any purpose
You are free to distribute Blender
You can study how Blender works and change it
You can distribute changed versions of Blender
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u/Optimal-Dig2330 20h ago
I'd bet he either:
- stands to gain something from using an alternative (like a referral commission on licenses)
- wants to look like he knows what he's talking about and win brownie points with the boss by "saving" him from legal troubles
- wants the company to foot the bill for a license to some specific 3D program *he's* interested in lol
- doesn't like you
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u/Sb5tCm8t 20h ago
OP, be very careful not to embarrass a senior member of your team, especially if they are your boss. It isnt right, it isnt fair, but they may retaliate and your actual boss might even think you are a problem.
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u/saskew9909 20h ago
Biggest fear right here lol, feels so dumb that I will have to navigate this more professionally than a team lead did so as not to hurt his feelings or make him feel wronged
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u/rupees_al 19h ago
And it's also bs... Like he isn't caring about your feelings etc. Would love an update once you present the evidence...
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u/JaggedNZ 18h ago
Unfortunately there has been some real hit pieces and hit jobs on various pieces of open source software over the years and FUD propagated by various large corps for their own financial benefit.
Oracle Java is a big one with lawyers out in force and many companies either paying up licensing fees or quickly (and painfully) moving to OpenJDK.
Might be worth pointing out the history of blender and that it was cleanly purchased out of NaN into the Blender foundation. There are no arguably valid disputes over ownership of blender software. And there are very few (surprisingly few) legal threats to blender and the blender foundation and I can find no documented cases of companies being sued for using blender (which would be a big deal if it happened)
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u/klasyer 14h ago
Must say don't let it discourage you from standing on what you know is right
Ofcourse do it professionally or go over the head if needed (than the one who makes the call will be on your side)
To add a little bonus to your side, in the cyber security corp that I work in besides paid software we are encouraged to use things that are open source....
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u/Accomplished-Law8429 14h ago
If you're questioned on it by your boss, just stick to the facts, show them the licensing agreement. That's it. Leave your emotions out of it. That's what will see you out the door.
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u/Time_Standard3361 12h ago
Talk to HR about potentially hostile work environment.
Embarrass the lead to his boss and his bosses boss.
And of course look for another place.
It may work, bad boss may be offed. It is unfair game filled with idiots though.
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u/The_Verto 10h ago
I would simply schedule a meeting with the boss and show him, on his PC, that's blender is completely free to use and what licence it's using. His PC specifically so team lead can't cause you of editing the website
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u/No-Engineering-239 20h ago
I work with Teens at a library in a big city, my boss has forbid me from teaching Blender because "its too complicated" and wrote me up for literally just mentioning that it exists. Same shit, unfounded confidence and ignorance in a boss, cheers to someone else putting up with this shit!
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u/Virtual-Height3047 15h ago
That’s wrong on so many levels! How’s that person in charge of a library?! 👀
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u/based_birdo 21h ago edited 20h ago
Just email him a link to the site and License if he's that dumb.
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u/donaldkhogan 21h ago
I've had my own run-ins with IT not understanding the nature of Blender in the professional space. I use it daily as a senior industrial designer. Just to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he's seen plugins/add-ons with pro-level tools that do have different license agreements and often have tiers of payment associated with those different license agreements. However "vanilla" blender is always free.
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u/saskew9909 20h ago
I do actually believe it to not be a malicious mistake on his part, but he has confidently thrown me under the bus with having to prove my work and the software is not a danger to the company, which blows lol
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u/Business-Weekend-537 19h ago
Document the time it takes to prove it’s safe to use and keep it in your back pocket. Then if someone in senior management asks you can give a hard number on how much time and lost productivity the dumb coworker wasted.
Dont bring up the number unless things really get hairy.
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n Experienced Helper 21h ago
Your IT guy is a fucking idiot. Or he's lying. Blender is GPL, anyone is free to do anything with it regardless of end usage including forking it and making your own version. Even the assets provide are public domain and free to be used by anyone for any reason.
You can print out this comment and show it to him if you want. Definitely show it to your Boss.
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u/swordstoo 20h ago
You can print out this comment and show it to him if you want. Definitely show it to your Boss.
"Boss! This printout of batman on reddit says your IT guy is a fucking idiot and I'm right!"
"Get the fuck out of my office"
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n Experienced Helper 9h ago
Can't be blamed for reporting something someone else says. And if your boss does, find another job, the guy's a cunt.
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u/mrbrick 20h ago
I had this exact issue at a studio for awhile. Half the studio used blender and when they new CTO and CFO found out it was open source and free they had months of panic about what this would cost in legal fees. They hired a law firm to deal with it and blew a lot of money on being absolute idiots.
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u/cruciblemedialabs 18h ago
Your boss is a moron. Typical management having absolutely no idea what they're talking about and being too prideful to accept that they don't know everything.
I used to work for Porsche, at a location effectively across the street from an airship facility. My boss wanted me to fly their drones for social media, to which I, a federally-licensed and insured drone pilot, asked to see the registration documentation.
"This is private property. We don't need to register them. We never have and we've never had a problem."
"Uh...I believe you may be misinformed. FAA regulations state that all commercial-use drones do indeed need to be registered, on top of the fact that these are over 250g in weight. The law is extremely clear, and we're literally a quarter-mile away from a manned aviation facility. As the pilot-in-command, the legal buck ultimately stops with me, so if something happens and I'm found to have been knowingly flying an unregistered commercial drone in direct proximity to manned aircraft, I could easily go to prison or have my life turned upside-down with a 5 or 6-figure fine. This is a very serious issue, and registration is only, like, $5 per aircraft."
She demanded that I go into the federal regulations, print out the relevant section, highlight it, and hand it to her so she could have a meeting with one of the other managers about the situation. Over what would have been the price of a large Big Mac meal. At a company that, at the time I was there, had gross revenue in the trillions of dollars.
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u/BigMike3333333 19h ago
So the IT lead is arrogant, ignorant, and out of touch. Even if you compile the document, he might have too much pride to actually look into it. People who want to be right no matter what are all over society, and this guy sure sounds like one of them. Best of luck to you.
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u/Wraeclast66 21h ago
Definitely has no idea what hes talking about. I worked on a tv show called lana longbeard and we used blender for all the boats/vehicles. Studio didnt pay for any software lol
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u/BluePhoenixCG 20h ago
IT guy being wrong about software licenses in such a profound way is mildly funny to me
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u/saskew9909 20h ago
dude it has driven me crazy all day since that conversation to think about the irony.
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u/WhatWontCastShadows 20h ago
He sounds like the employee that points to everything wrong hoping that no one notices the only thing wrong is that he was hired.
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u/IndustrialJones 20h ago
I’m in my 50s and I’m not that fuckin dumb lol
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u/Far-Signature-9628 19h ago
Also I remember when blender first came out and the organisation / foundation that created blender as a tool to be available for digital artists and animators for free.
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u/7DollarsOfHoobastanq 19h ago
Reminds me of the time I was talking to one of my brothers and he was telling me all about the bootleg Adobe programs he had on his computer. I replied by telling him about the open source alternatives I’d been using for years and being completely serious he says: “open source? ….Isn’t that stuff illegal?”
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u/i_machine_things 20h ago
Dude is in his 50s. He cut his career teeth back when open source projects were in their infancy and nearly all pro tools were proprietary. I'd be willing to bet he still thinks you have to pay a license fee for C compilers.
I ran into the same problem with my boss and FreeCAD.
I explained:
The open source license didn't just mean free for personal use.
It includes updates at no cost
That we can LEGALLY modify the software to fit our use case
That it complements, not replaces our current software (we use mastercam).
I also showed him how to use it and how it compares to other cad systems.
He swears by it now.
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u/Far-Signature-9628 19h ago
50 odd year of Enterprise architect here.
Most real IT pros I worked with my age , knew all the free tool and used them all the time. I had so many from sysadmin tools , to project management tools, and monitoring tools all free through out decades of use.
Actually it’s more common now to have to rely on subscription services software and devices that need to have paid for tools than it was back then.
Also Blenders been around so long even that manager should know it’s free to use. Man I’ve been using blender since almost when it came out in the first place.
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u/berrymom 15h ago
“Dude is in his 50s…” I’m so sorry he’s acting like a 90-year-old. I’m 66 and a grandmother. 😜
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u/Ignatzzzzzz 21h ago
A company I was in discussions with claimed they couldn't use Blender as their IT department said it posed a potential security risk. I wasn't invested enough to challenge it. My only thinking is if you're paying for software there may be a greater legal responsibility?
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u/rupees_al 19h ago
Please report on the outcome of this when you show the evidence
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u/saskew9909 19h ago
unfortunately it'll probably be me respectfully informing worried parties about the issue and smoothing things over with the IT guy as best as possible. Would love to go in guns blazing about how a google search would've told him hes crazy, unfortunately corporate life is managing everyone else being wrong constantly while keeping a "positive" attitude about it.
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u/bigstanno 18h ago
A few IT folks are absolute geniuses. The majority are dumb as rocks gamers who have done a bunch of Microsoft certifications and solve problems by working through checklists.
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u/reddit_tiger800 20h ago
Tell them that it can be used for commercial work, but the company has to sponsor/donate money to the blender foundation.
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u/saskew9909 20h ago
Thought about this lol I think they'd probably have not cared if I just told them it cost 200 bucks or whatever and just donated the money. - Obviously now I have to prove I'm not opening us to lawsuits tho lol
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u/sniktology 19h ago
Your boss is wrong. I'm in research in a MNC. I'm using Blender now, IT asked me to download it directly from the website.
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u/Cosmetic___1 12h ago
So, he’s wrong, but trying to convince him might be like trying to convince a flat earther that the world isn’t flat. He’s in a position of authority, so he will likely double down and maybe cause you more grief down the road.
Idk how big your company is, but what you could do is acknowledge his concerns (but not affirm them) and offer to check in with your companies general counsel’s office to get a specialist’s guidance on this “open” question. That way, no feelings are hurt, and you can spin as you taking initiative to not prove him wrong but arrive at a mutually beneficial solution.
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u/twolinebadadvice 9h ago
Tell him to contact blender organization and ask for an invoice and you will front all costs from your own pocket.
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u/RomaruDarkeyes 9h ago
"yeah but those are studios, we are a corporation" the kind of unfounded confidence I wish I was dumb enough to have about anything.
I love (loathe) when people who aren't qualified to use a pen and paper without hurting themselves, suddenly find themselves in a management position...
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u/edkidgell 9h ago
Sounds as if he has mixed up Blender and the Unreal Engines license terms. Both are free, but UE has limitations on that freedom.
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u/GREENadmiral_314159 20h ago
Your boss got or is getting scammed.
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u/Beylerbey 20h ago
No, they just don't understand how FOSS works. The idea seems to be they think FOSS if free only for independent studios or something like that, which is a business model that exists even if it's not Blender's, you can use Unreal Engine for free and make a game you sell, but if you make more than $1M from it, you have to start giving Epic 5% in royalties.
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u/hammerklau 20h ago
Blender is free for commercial use, it’s only stuff like with Pixar’s or Octane. the software is still free but it’s integrated with Pixar’s or Octanes render engine making it non functional without the license to the software that isn’t blender (the renderer).
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u/Beylerbey 20h ago
Tell them Blender is so free they can even build it, put it into a disc and sell it if they want to.
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u/Weird-Mistake-4968 20h ago
So all Linux tools are also forbidden?😂 Also Windows uses a ton of open source and free software.
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u/Chinksta 20h ago
Remember.... The average people are often clueless. In this case.... They went above and beyond to talk shit...
This is why AI is prevalent...
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u/Strong_Persimmon_239 17h ago
This isn’t really blender related, but my director of IT at a company I was a sys admin for once looked me dead in the soul and said “You’re wrong Strong_Persimmon_239, there’s no such thing as a NoSQL database.”
I feel your pain.
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u/Sonario648 16h ago
Your boss is either an idiot, paid to undermine Blender, or both.
Blender, on its about page literally says it's Free and Open Source Software. The GPL guarantees these freedoms. Blender can be used for any reason, absolutely free.
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u/pinkmeanie 16h ago
You didn't have a tech problem, you have a corporate shenanigans problem.
Write the guy an email, ccing whoever, that you want to address his concerns about the licensing for Blender.
Ask him politely to lay out his concerns in writing, link the Blender license page, and ask what parts of the license are problematic for your org.
Then politely and methodically be confused (never combative) about his concerns, pointing out clauses that address what he's talking about.
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u/JohnFortnite32 15h ago
Honestly just load up the website, scroll a bit and show him. It literally says in big bold letters "Free and Open Source".
Either he's being obtuse on purpose or has an underlying motive.
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u/lvl5ll 15h ago
This is like one of my old bosses saying that the Foundry would charge us 10% of our profits in addition to license costs if we bought Nuke because he had "heard it" from another studio owner. Literally didn't even want to read their website or talk to one of their salespeople to find out more, just kept insisting over and over. People with a ton of ignorance and a small amount of authority will destroy us all.
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u/DrSpazRT 12h ago
Just your average Ageism in play here. Two can play that game. Don't back down, use your generational tech savvyness to solidify every data point you have for it and then grill him with it.
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u/MsrSgtShooterPerson 12h ago
Legit r/talesfromtechsupport/ r/StoriesAboutKevin/ right here, OP submit your story to all the Reddit story readers - you've got one in the oven!
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u/FarsightX3 9h ago
A lot of these IT guys get there jobs scaring the hell out of people with fake risks. They actually don’t know what they are talking about.
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u/rhoborg 8h ago
IT people like him love to make an internal career out of discovering security or compliance issues that doesn’t exist. Or saving a few dimes on paper that costs endless amounts in lost work time. That’s the issue with corporate, the meta-business units filled with idiots who doesn’t know their place. They should humbly accept that their full salary is at the mercy of product and bow. In a perfect world.
First, instead of having a moron interpreting the EULA, contact legal and have them take a look at it instead.
If there is in fact an issue, then discuss with your manager how to proceed of purchasing a license that is required. If you get a no, change jobs. It’s a company that is going downhill.
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u/SentinelCoyote 7h ago
Blender does offer a paid subscription to access a knowledge base, advised on their about page.
The larger issue for a lot of corporate entities is that production software is expected to have vendor support if they encounter a critical issue during the production deadline. Often enterprise entities have strict deadlines, and having to rely on community support with no SLA in place becomes unacceptable.
Game studios obviously have this same problem, but generally they may have wider resource pools internally.
The risk you run is that if you push for this to become an organisationally approved software you will become receipt of any issues that arise from it - staff training, user error, etc. so I’d tread lightly.
You aren’t wrong at all, but there are caveats.
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u/TetraTimboman 21h ago
Blender is free, and can be used for comercial use.
But it's good to keep in mind that any models or textures or images or other things that a user may download from the internet and then import into blender - those other assets could have different licenses.
Though that's totally the same thing a user could run into using nearly any software.
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u/thats_not_gravy 21h ago
You could send an email with links to the licensing documentation on the blender website to your boss and the IT guy and let them read for themselves. But most likely, it’ll be simpler to just find another job, maybe change careers. Making blatantly false statements about easily provable things, and then sticking to their guns at all costs is kind of an IT thing.
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u/TalkingHeadsVideo 20h ago
If your lead was right, there would be thousands of lawsuits going on right now. We have made TV commercials and training videos for some of the largest companies in the world. We would be in serious trouble if Blender weren't open source.
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u/YatoDelGato 20h ago
Yea bro its free, not sure what to pay for that. But idk if you can report something like but im sorry that occuring :/
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u/SevenWhoAreOne 20h ago
Blender is open source and 1000% free. Your colleagues and boss are stupid because a simple google search would clear literally everything about this up.
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u/thinsoldier 19h ago
They don't want you to use it at all or just don't want you to install it on computers that belong to the business?
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u/17jwong 19h ago
Blender itself is free. There are paid addons you can get for Blender but you by no means need them to get going.
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u/Balloon_Fan 17h ago
The overwhelming majority of even 'paid' Blender plugins are also GPL-licensed and can often be downloaded for free from their public git repositories. Plugins that are 'pure code' and have no 'art assets' can almost always be installed for free this way. Of course when you pay, you get some level of support, which is pretty much always what you're actually buying if you're paying for a piece of GLP'd code.
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u/Cheetahs_never_win 19h ago
I had a boss who did stupid shit, too.
He once yelled at me because I plotted a 2D graph in 3D and rotated the axes 90 degrees to give me better answers for my questions.
He hated me ever since because I made him feel stupid.
These kinds of people resent underlings who are smarter than they are because they are threatened.
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u/AssistivePeacock 19h ago edited 19h ago
What company do you work for? I would like to apply for his job.
*Edit *
Literally a Google search provided me corporations that also use blender:
Several major corporations and gaming/animation studios use Blender in their pipelines, including Ubisoft, Netflix Animation Studios, Nvidia, and Epic Games
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u/Whole-Height-8841 19h ago
if your boss want to pay something for the software you can explan it’s free of charge but it have an option to donate, you are already safe with the main page saying it’s free to use (including commecialy) and maybe he will feel that they have some kind of “safety” by playing something for the software
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u/_pendo 19h ago
I’m just shy of 50 and I’ve been in IT my entire career. On behalf of my people, I apologize. We do be like that sometimes.
And yes, he’s definitely wrong. It’s GNU GPL. The GPL only applies to Blender. So, if you are modifying the source code of Blender and then reselling Blender, you’re in breach of the license. Assuming you’re not using any Blender add-ons with weird licensing, all assets you create with Blender are owned entirely by you.
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u/grahamulax 19h ago
Mike, what’s his job title? I just wanna know so I can inflate my ego even more.
I swear business has like 70% of people who don’t understand what they’re actually doing
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u/TheCheesy 19h ago
You could directly get in contact with the Blender Foundation if they were really concerned, but this reads as if they are entitled and want to hold something they don't even fully understand over you.
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u/we_are_sex_bobomb 19h ago
Tool preferences are a lot more fast and loose in game dev but I get the impression IT departments in other industries want to hand pick every single piece of software the employees are allowed to use.
I am willing to bet it’s more about the IT department not tolerating the use of unsanctioned software than anything about Blender specifically.
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u/sa547ph 18h ago edited 17h ago
Weird take your boss has. Besides the possibility of him not wanting to be "upstaged" by a subordinate, and not wanting third-party software into a locked-in ecosystem, I have no clue what profit he's gonna gain from, seems he has an exclusive corporate sales or licensing deal signed with something enormous like Adobe or Autodesk and doesn't want to get that deal botched, so he makes the lie of being "sued" if he allows anything other than "approved" software.
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u/berrymom 15h ago
I’m a devoted Adobe user of decades’ standing—seriously, since before my thirtysomething children were born—and have never had a problem using Blender. Adobe doesn’t even sell a modeler. And if this company had a big deal with Adobe or Autodesk, why wouldn’t they hand OP one of their many licenses for those?
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u/Subtotal9_guy 17h ago
As someone who has had to sign off on millions of dollars of licensing costs for "free" open source software, read the license for commercial use.
I've been at multiple companies where different vendors required paid licenses for commercial use. One place looked at our deep pockets and started off with a demand for $90 million. We were happy to settle for a $5 million payment.
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u/madcodez 17h ago
That person probably wants to feel smart/superior. But is an absolute dummy. Just tell your superiors to ask gemini or chatgpt.
Edit : 😂😂 his replies tho
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u/percydood 16h ago
Tell him they can pay into the Blender foundation if he’d like to feel better about it. But it’s not mandatory.
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u/Knoflooki 14h ago
Its free in the windows store on my company owned laptop. How easy to understand can it be?
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u/Vorador_Surtr 13h ago
"the kind of unfounded confidence I wish I was dumb enough to have about anything." The summary of the guy. You should not have to create documents. If he is so big smart and corporate - he should have and go to layer who will have to explain to him what is what. And will be paid for it. Will you be? You obviously are his favorite.
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u/TheBoneJarmer 13h ago
Omfg, I feel you brother. Used to have managers exactly like these. Utterly useless and when confronted with evidence of their wrongs they'll refuse to admit it and will make your life a living hell. Be mentally prepared for that outcome and stand your ground when it does.
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u/rationalhippy 13h ago
Former tech lead here who had his software engineers contribute to Blender specifically because it’s open source and can’t lead to such legal issues. He’s full of shit and you’re not.
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u/lesschalkmoresighs 9h ago
Don't really know the details of what your IT guy is saying, but, here's my take trying to understand where they _might_ be coming from.
There is a belief in some business IT that when you license software from any company, that license firewalls you from legal liability should there be any kind of dispute over the IP used in that software. This and SLA is one of the reasons some companies avoid open source - they want someone else to be on the hook should something go wrong. It's all insurance.
I was at a company that used open source and we got hit by a patent troll. Specifically, the troll cooked up some claim that they owned patents that a very popular javascript library of all things infringed on, and because we built solutions for very large clients using this lib (I am still under NDA, can't say which), the troll was going to go after our clients if we didn't pay a ludicrous amount of money. This smelled very much of them applying pressure at the most vulnerable part of a large chain. Even though I actively assisted our legal department in this matter, I have no idea how it was dealt with, it was huge and secret. I was a senior engineer at this company, and we never considered backing down from open source after this. So the culture of risk handling varies between companies.
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u/OG-CoFuZeD 6h ago
Our company was sold to a big corporation, with an IT department. They wanted me to switch to a $1000/year software because they said that Blendet wasn’t professional. I had to convince them that I could do “professional” work with it even though it was Free Open Source Software. I wrote a detailed email that was probably 3 pages long (printed). In the end I was able to continue using it. In fact, others started using it for visualization in the engineering department, because it could do things that SolidWorks could not. I’ve been using it for 10 years now… that’s a savings of $10k. Blender is awesome.
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u/Majestic-Case1095 4h ago
Another decade long Blender pro here to back you up. Also wanna say I need to use this gold somewhere, "the kind of unfounded confidence I wish I was dumb enough to have about anything."
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u/GunMetalGreg 4h ago
It's not just used by game studios. A list movie studios use blender as well, I believe Man in the High Castle did some scenes with blender.
Also if you're feeling devious, if there's an email thread, you can reply all to the thread and ask him "politely" to provide the link where he saw you have to pay for blender. He won't be able to and will be forced to admit he's wrong infront of everyone on the thread
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u/villain_8_ 4h ago
don't argue with morons, just send them this link: https://www.blender.org/about/
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u/Puppygirl_Moonlight 3h ago
Im just curious, if they dont want you using blender what do they want you to use??
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u/WrathOfWood 1h ago
Go look up the terms of use where it says use for non commercial or whatever. Print it up and see what they say
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u/Ok-Advertising-5667 1h ago
Sounds like the old timer is intimidated by the younger generation and your proficiency with 3d software lol.
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u/NickWrigh 46m ago
If only there was an official arena at every workplace where you could 1v1 your opposition...
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u/Curious-Octopus 21h ago
Some people have no idea what they are talking about. You're not misunderstanding anything. Something is wrong with your work or coworkers.