[Image-SIG] Future of PIL

[Fredrik Lundh]

> I'm curious about the future development of PIL.  What are the major =
things
> we can expect in the next couple of years?  (e.g., Is there work =
towards
> version 2, and if so, what are the main features being developed?  Is =
it
> possible that the licensing agreement could change in future =
versions?)

future versions of the standard PIL distribution ("the
core") will have the same license (or a compatible one;
we'll track the standard Python license as close as we
possibly can).

as for new releases, we'll release a maintenance release
(1.0.1) soon.  there will definitely be more releases of the
core, but there are no fixed plans (in other words, I'm
open for suggestions).

> I remember reading somewhere that a commercial version of PIL is in
> development.  Is this the same thing as PIL Plus?  (If yes, ignore the
> following questions).  Will this replace the current, free version now
> available (as far as future development and maintenance are =
concerned)?

nope.  the core will always be free.  commercial stuff will
be layered on top of the core, not replace it.

the current PIL Plus release contains a bunch of additional
bits and pieces, and is currently only available for support
customers:

http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/support.htm

</F>