Add-on Unmaintained Waindigo add-ons

[sinucello]

You could build a system where projects are posted with a goal price and people can contribute to the project financially

good idea and I support it. Already made good experience with a co-funded add-on from Jon.

I still think you should look into releasing some of your add ons as paid

yes, some add-ons deserve to be long-time supported even if the customer who paid for coding it is no longer interested in using it. So if a small price helps to realize this, it may be better than releasing it for free. Or pick up Alfa1s idea for this as well: add-ons can be marked as "needs funding for update/bugfix/enhancement" if someone makes a good suggestion / feature request and can`t / doesn`t want to pay for it him/herself.

I`m happy to see how constructive criticism is given and put it into action.

 

[51463]

#1 I remember reading somewhere that you saying many people download and use your add-ons but no one pays. Well this is normal! Why would people pay for your add-ons when they are free. If you want people to pay then don't make them free. By giving your add-ons free. It makes me think that
a) You're doing it as a hobby
b) You don't need them money.

#2 I like most of your add-ons but i find most of them are missing a couple of features that would make the add-on excellent. It would be great if you could add them for us. But your prices are too high. I just can't afford it.

#3 I went to your website to get a subscription. But your pricing/subscriptions are too confusing and it doesn't explain well what they are or what you'll get. I went to your website looking to support and spend money. I left empty handed.

Frankly, I don't see the big deal of what organization you work for, what your beliefs are, or who your CEO is. What i'm more interested in getting quality support and quality add-ons.

From your interview:

******* has been very secretive for some time, and yet people are still happy to buy add-ons from him.

We weren't "happy" . We just had no choice.


I really think there is a big demand out there for good add-on support and members wanting you to add/improve features to your current add-ons.

If i was a developer what would i do?... I wouldn't give out any free add-ons. I would charge everyone a small monthly price($4?) to have full unlimted access to ALL of my add-ons. And if they stop paying the monthly fee then they are not allowed to use my add-ons anymore.

I'm sure lots of people would be willing to pay this every month. I mean 4 bucks a month isn't very much.

Just like Netflix! It's only 8 dollars a month. But after you start getting more and more customers. It would provide me a stable monthly wage and less time for me to worry about money and concentrate more on improving my add-ons and making new add-ons.

In conclusion:

I find you are an excellent developer but you need to make your business model more easier to understand.

 

[Daniel Hood]

I'm sure lots of people would be willing to pay this every month. I mean 4 bucks a month isn't very much.

Just like Netflix! It's only 8 dollars a month. But after you start getting more and more customers. It would provide me a stable monthly wage and less time for me to worry about money and concentrate more on improving my add-ons and making new add-ons.

Problem with this is that people would pay $4, login, download EVERYTHING, unsubscribe. Now you've given everything away for $4. They don't have to pay another $4 until there's an update to something they want/need. This isn't Netflix. Devs can't stop you from using their addons the second you cancel your subscription.

 

[gfc]

@Jon W why don't you stick a price tag on some of your popular add-ons? I'm sure people would rather pay a price for an add-on that works and they can openly post suggestions and bugs without the typical response of, "you could donate for that".

Or make at least a fee for branding removal.

 

[51463]

Too bad there wasn't a way to to make the add-ons delete themselves or stop working once the customers domain cancelled the monthly subscription.
I'm sure hackers would crack that. Too many smart crackers out there..

 

[Daniel Hood]

Too bad there wasn't a way to to make the add-ons delete themselves or stop working once the customers domain cancelled the monthly subscription.
I'm sure hackers would crack that. Too many smart crackers out there..

Not to mention devs aren't allowed to include callbacks that do that type of thing in their add ons anymore...

 

[51463]

Not to mention devs aren't allowed to include callbacks that do that type of thing in their add ons anymore...

Well i'm all out of ideas...

 

[Daniel Hood]

And now you understand a big part of the problem. He doesn't want to charge a fee for every single add on individually and he understands when everyone says "Small boards can't afford to buy all these things" so he made multiple tier payment schemes... yet it's still not working. It's new though, I'm sure he's still brainstorming. Hopefully he'll get it figured out.

 

[erich37]

just make the most wanted Addons into "Paid Addons" (no monthly charge, only a 1-time-fee) and work on them to improve on quality and adding features.

Focus on quality, not on quantity of Addons.

 

[Mike]

Not to mention devs aren't allowed to include callbacks that do that type of thing in their add ons anymore...

You certainly are allowed to do license checking if you wish. If it fails, you can disable access to the content until it's resolved. We didn't ban callbacks; they just need to be declared so people know what they're getting into.

Sure the check may end up being removed but you're no worse off than not having it...

 

[Brent W]

He makes it too hard to give him money. I want a simple branding free process. Not whatever I think is appropriate to donate to his now non existent foundation. Installing another add-on just to remove the branding is too much to.

Make things simple for people and you will make more money.

 

[Daniel Hood]

You certainly are allowed to do license checking if you wish. If it fails, you can disable access to the content until it's resolved. We didn't ban callbacks; they just need to be declared so people know what they're getting into.

Sure the check may end up being removed but you're no worse off than not having it...

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought that wasn't allowed.

 

[Jon W]

Thanks for all the really helpful feedback.

I've already made a few changes based on the feedback received:

• some new features of some of our add-ons are now only available to paying members; it DOES require you to have the Install and Upgrade by Waindigo add-on installed though (sorry @BamaStangGuy but this does mean we don't have to have a callback in every add-on); the premium features are clearly laid out in a nice table (see example here)
• if you have the Install and Upgrade by Waindigo add-on installed and link it to your waindigo.org account, a notice will now appear on waindigo.org telling you exactly which subscription you should purchase based on your add-ons installed etc. and any subscriptions below that level no longer appear as options;
• I have made a few changes to the layout of our account upgrades page on waindigo.org to make it a bit clearer what you get in each package; I would really welcome some feedback on this;
• branding is now automatically removed if you buy a subscription and have the Install and Upgrade by Waindigo add-on installed and linked to your waindigo.org account.

There is still a lot more to do though so please keep the feedback coming!

 

[Alpha1]

I found the calculation of addon price confusing. I think it's a good idea to have different prices for small websites, but why on earth make it so complex? Why not just charge per addon instead of a combination of how many members and various numbers of addon per package. Why not just use Chris his license manager and keep it simple.

 

[Russ]

Is it a work in progress Jon? I click the link to see the account upgrades and it's not what is advertised.

 

[erich37]

Thanks for all the really helpful feedback.

I've already made a few changes based on the feedback received:

• some new features of some of our add-ons are now only available to paying members; it DOES require you to have the Install and Upgrade by Waindigo add-on installed though (sorry @BamaStangGuy but this does mean we don't have to have a callback in every add-on); the premium features are clearly laid out in a nice table (see example here)
• if you have the Install and Upgrade by Waindigo add-on installed and link it to your waindigo.org account, a notice will now appear on waindigo.org telling you exactly which subscription you should purchase based on your add-ons installed etc. and any subscriptions below that level no longer appear as options;
• I have made a few changes to the layout of our account upgrades page on waindigo.org to make it a bit clearer what you get in each package; I would really welcome some feedback on this;
• branding is now automatically removed if you buy a subscription and have the Install and Upgrade by Waindigo add-on installed and linked to your waindigo.org account.

There is still a lot more to do though so please keep the feedback coming!

- automatic removal of branding is good, because that wa annoying.
- if I understand correctly, once purchasing any Addon, one have to install your "Install and Upgrade"-Addon which is "calling home" ?

 

[Mouth]

have the Install and Upgrade by Waindigo add-on installed

No ****ING way !! I will never install any add-on that calls home and sends a list of all my add-ons back to home.

 

[Mouth]

You certainly are allowed to do license checking if you wish. If it fails, you can disable access to the content until it's resolved. We didn't ban callbacks; they just need to be declared so people know what they're getting into.

A great solution to monthly subscriptions I think. The add-on does a license check call-back on the monthly anniversary of the day/time it was installed, and disables subscription/premium functionality if the license check fails validity (better to generate a notification (server error log and email to contact us address?) with a 7 day grace period).

 

[Jon W]

Is it a work in progress Jon? I click the link to see the account upgrades and it's not what is advertised.

In what sense?

 

[Russ]

In what sense?

Maybe I'm just missing it but clicking this which advertises a certain starting price:


takes you to: