V
Vincent
Guest
You guys made this open-source, and free to use. I'm sure many people would donate to help keep you guys going.
DarkGizmo
Well-known member
It'd be really cool if you stopped being cheap and actually paid for the software like everyone else is going to. The thing with making software, commercial software, is to make money and to pay the developers who make the software. People like phpBB and MyBB aren't being paid anything for their software and are doing it voluntarily in their spare time, basically, a bunch of script kiddies who have lots of free time on their hands are developing those. XF aims to be a professional piece of forum software, and to do that, they need a development team which I'm sure they are creating behind closed doors, but in order to pay for that dev team, they need to be getting revenue coming in from the software itself.
I honestly doubt they'll make this open source. Stop being so cheap and buy a license like everyone else is going to be doing upon release.
I honestly doubt they'll make this open source. Stop being so cheap and buy a license like everyone else is going to be doing upon release.
Shelley
Well-known member
I doubt that. Relying on donations would jeopardise the longevity of this project/product. It's not a steady income and that is what the developers need, an income which puts food on the table and keeps them at their computers writing code and giving us a software that will mature into something great.
Bottom line, you cannot expect them to rely on donations. It's asking them to work for free basically.
BirdOPrey5
Well-known member
It would be really cool if the guy in your sig was real... but he isn't... and this won't be free.
Kuma
Active member
Donations would not cover the operating/living expenses of the developers for to long. At least thats how the bear mind works. I give you guys something nice, you come give me a few fishies, but until there is a problem I might not get more fishes. I might not even get fishies again until I give you something else new.
Rhydian
Active member
This is a definite no, like mybb you would have problems with staffing, upkeep costs, licensing issues and it would just turn out to be a bunch of ****.
Kuma
Active member
I do not think that is really fair to anyone. There is a lot of free software that is fantastic, discounting something that is free is silly just because it is free. Thats like judging someone on the color of their fur!
ManagerJosh
Well-known member
Uh...no. I'm happy to pay for a forum application that works well.
BirdOPrey5
Well-known member
So you pay no attention to PHP and MySQL?
GodForum.com
Well-known member
It can't be free because alot of us have commercial forums and need the support of a real company when it counts most.
F
Floris
Guest
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad you like the software enough to want to use it. I am sure in due time you will. Free or not.
I think it is over-par and not under-par, compared to free alternatives. But to keep the quality growing and not degrading, I believe that open sourcing it might not be the solution. A commercial license (at $1 or $1000 or anywhere in between) helps it keep high quality, with professional support, guaranteed through development, guaranteed professional support (replies within reasonable time that actually help the customer), and keep it visible source.
Going open source will derail the project from its original goal and end up with a solution like nuke-phpBB or alike spin offs, and in my opinion, it's all not going anywhere.
Look at what open source has done for phpBB, while well known (because it's free), it's under par, and with the amount of people capable of contributing to the code line, phpBB3 is here, with what ... not even 50% of what xenforo already is, which is written by two professionals, in obviously less than 12 months time.
I rather pay what it is worth, and take my community serious. Than hope for free download, because I am cheap.
I am not saying that I do not like open source, or that I do not support it. I am just saying I do not like the idea of open sourcing xenforo.
@Kuma and @BirdOPrey
Sorry for misunderstanding, i meant that i dont pay any attention to any free software that is in beginning period. PhpBB and MyBB are great softwares but I have some bad experiences. But look at wordpress, i love to use it. I hope this explains...
Sorry for misunderstanding, i meant that i dont pay any attention to any free software that is in beginning period. PhpBB and MyBB are great softwares but I have some bad experiences. But look at wordpress, i love to use it. I hope this explains...
Well, if XenForo had big sponsors like AOL or Google to start with and collection of ad revenues from customers' sites [would you agree for such a setup?], then I am all for it. Mozilla FireFox had $2 million donation from AOL. Not a bad injection for a non-profit enterprise. Now Mozilla collects $60-70 annually from search royalties.
I am ok with XenForo being a commercial product as long as its price is not sky-high. Kier has already indicated that xF will be competitively priced agains big boys. So, expect it to be anyware from $100-200. Not bad for a top-notch forum software if you are serious about running a community. Besides, if you have a huge community $100-200 is really nothing compared to the cost of running it (dedicated server, customizing, support, etc).
WhatChaMissin
Active member
If all you're looking for is a basic forum there are plenty of free alternatives, but if you need more than just the basics then you should expect it to come at an additional cost.
Floren
Well-known member
Feel free to make a 20 millions donation to Kier, I'm pretty sure he will release it as GPL.
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