if someone pays you to do a flash thing for them, when you give the final product, should you also give the entire source code for it too?

i have been, mainly so he can make updates to it too

what is the standard expectations for freelance work
and what is your opinion?

you just have to express it when you make the deal.
alot of people don't give the fla's and same with ad/logo design. we do ad design in our magazine, but we don't give away the original files or psd's unless they pay more for it.

so either you negotiate to give it to him, or you don't , but just make sure that when you make that deal he realizes the swf isn't going to be updatable.

ok.
for this particular project, we didn't agree on anything yet, except to start the project and pay.
but as far as updating goes, theres nothing in the .fla at all, it's all in code, and images are swappable via an xml file. so i don't HAVE to give him the .fla to update the flash.

hmm, i think i'll start discussing whether or not the source will be included prior to start of work. and for this project, not give the source code, since it's not needed for updates. and well, i want to protect application itself.

thanks capty, nice sig/avatar design.

When you bought MS Windows, did you get the source code?

As mentioned, it should be agreed upon before work begins.

and i guess there are some s/w's that can create a fla file from swf file. So better ask him to pay more and give them fla file (if he can find some s/w that can generate code for him).

Ive never done a contract job where I got to keep the source. Unless it's explicitly stated in the contract when you do contract work for someone the client actually own the code and final product.

Hi

There are a number of methodologies you can apply.

If someone wants the code you code charge them more for the product than someone that does not want the source.

Another way of dealing with this issue is that you could make the source open source and only charge them for the
support you provide for your product.

At the end of the day it comes down to what your client wants and requires. The rest is just negotiating your terms.

Hope this helps

Regards

ScottyB

thanks for the replies.

i'll keep that in mind for future projects.

i actually don't mind giving out the fla for flash that does not have any 'interesting' code in it. simple listeners, rollovers, timeline control, tweens, etc. that can be done by anyone. and it's easier on me if they are able to edit very minor stuff for themselves... like links in a menu, it's faster to just hardcode the links in the code and let him recompile as necessary, than it is to setup an xml document with links to certain clips and to code and test for that functionality.

My standard freelance contract explicitly states that all source code belongs to me unless the client and I have an agreement by which the client would own the rights to the code. I have found that it is usually not an issue as most of my clients aren't sure what to do with the source code. However, I use a questionnaire in my initial consultation with a client where I specifically ask if they are seeking rights to the code and inform them of an additional charge for surrendering my rights to my own work, so there is no confusion on the matter later.

This post has been edited by BenignDesign: 5 Mar, 2008 - 05:27 AM

When I do contract work for a client - if updates are required on my part I keep the source. Once the contract terminates and my services are no longer required & I have no ties to the project anymore I part with the source.

I guess it depends on the situation though, I know my company purchased software and we tweak the source and basically built our application around there product. (Dumb move though - ie6 won't be supported forever.)

When I give source I usually state that any changes they make in it is not covered by any guarantee, so the original support ends right at the moment they modify the source (or at least a new contract is needed).

Most of the work I have done for people was in MS-Office and I never really have done too much time in hiding the code -- but I did always say in the agreement that the code belongs to me. Generally speaking I do not give out source code for my work -- no one has really asked for it.

Now at the compainy where I work this is a constant source of contention. We try to keep the intellectual property rights to all of our code. But many organizations have rules stating that they need to review the code to all middleware -- so you take the sales reps and the lawyers and the project managers and put them into a room, lock the door and see what happens.

Most of the time it works out like this: If they want it to be fully supported then we keep the source code, if they want the source code, then we don't support it... but lets face it... we do support it we just don't like it.

Most contract work that I have seen, they are paying for the source code -- but once the contract is up, so are my responsibilities to the code. If it works for them great, if not, well I got paid -- not my problem (unless they would like to renew my contract). (To my knowledge, only once have a delivered a program that did not function -- and they only payed me half... so I don't feel bad about it)

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the source code if I do a few contracted jobs. It seems to me that the person responsible for the updates should have the source code... But then again that might almost always be me for cases like that ^^

It depends heavily on the pre-determined deal you make with who you will be selling it to.