Flaming activeCollab
Page: 1, 2
Recent posts in this topic
I'm sure there are plenty of posts on this board criticizing you for making the switch from FREE to $400+$199 to remove your logo. Let me just be the most recent to say: "You are not as cool as I thought..." - Did I expect the project to stay free and grow better thanks to the contributions of the community? YES! Again... "You are not as cool as I thought..."
Note to self: remember to fully investigate a companies philosophy before beginning to use their software.
I really thought you were offering an alternative to basecamp. Instead you merely copied basecamp to the best of your ability(which fell very short I might add) - and the only alternative you are offering is the price structure...
Thanks for nothing.
Note to self: remember to fully investigate a companies philosophy before beginning to use their software.
I really thought you were offering an alternative to basecamp. Instead you merely copied basecamp to the best of your ability(which fell very short I might add) - and the only alternative you are offering is the price structure...
Thanks for nothing.
Pro
I would say that activeCollab is already much better than Basecamp even though it doesn't contain all of Basecamp's features. Anything that is missing is most likely on the way. If you want to look at prices, I think you would have to compare activeCollab to Basecamp's top pricing plan since that's the only one that gives you unlimited projects (but still has a limit on file storage). That would run you $150 per month. After 3 months of service you have already exceeded activeCollab's corporate pricing. And with activeCollab, you own the software. You don't have to renew your support contract after the first year if you don't want to but you can continue to use the product. You also are unlimited in customizing the back-end since you have access to the source code.
Another big thing for me has been the outstanding customer support. I've not used the dedicated support tickets yet since Ilija mentioned in the forums that they have a 1 day response time. But Ilija has been very good at keeping up on the forums and I usually get replies to my posts within the hour. He may not have immediate solutions but at least I know that he's read my post and has given it some thought.
activeCollab may not be for everyone but if you used 0.71 before then I would highly suggest spending the money for the newest version. It's definitely worth it. And with the recent money back gaurantee and $10 hosted option you've got two more reason to give it a real try.
Another big thing for me has been the outstanding customer support. I've not used the dedicated support tickets yet since Ilija mentioned in the forums that they have a 1 day response time. But Ilija has been very good at keeping up on the forums and I usually get replies to my posts within the hour. He may not have immediate solutions but at least I know that he's read my post and has given it some thought.
activeCollab may not be for everyone but if you used 0.71 before then I would highly suggest spending the money for the newest version. It's definitely worth it. And with the recent money back gaurantee and $10 hosted option you've got two more reason to give it a real try.
J.R.
Geez, get over yourself
Ilijia has put in a heck of a lot of effort into this project right from the start, and I appluade him for it.
It's technically his product and his idea. He's said that this new version contains about 70% new code (Just look at the 0.71 -> 1.0 converter, he's changed the templating system completely, it now uses smarty as opposed to RAW php), so its not the 'original' code anymore.
The original code is still available for download, so quit winging, and go press that download button, or go off to project piers.
Ilijia has put in a heck of a lot of effort into this project right from the start, and I appluade him for it.
It's technically his product and his idea. He's said that this new version contains about 70% new code (Just look at the 0.71 -> 1.0 converter, he's changed the templating system completely, it now uses smarty as opposed to RAW php), so its not the 'original' code anymore.
The original code is still available for download, so quit winging, and go press that download button, or go off to project piers.
Pro
Hoppie,
Take couple of deep breaths... there are very few things (if any) that necessitate public name calling.
I happily handed over the 399 the minute it became available. and I have not regretted it one little bit. My team and I are much productive as a result.
Besides the well thought through architecture and design, my favorite thing about aC is that I can tweak it as needed. That alone make it better than basecamp in my book. Ever try to ask the 37 signals guys for a new feature? Even one you desperately need to run your business? Well if you haven't, let me tell you what the answer will undoubtedly be... "NO!".
Todd
Take couple of deep breaths... there are very few things (if any) that necessitate public name calling.
I happily handed over the 399 the minute it became available. and I have not regretted it one little bit. My team and I are much productive as a result.
Besides the well thought through architecture and design, my favorite thing about aC is that I can tweak it as needed. That alone make it better than basecamp in my book. Ever try to ask the 37 signals guys for a new feature? Even one you desperately need to run your business? Well if you haven't, let me tell you what the answer will undoubtedly be... "NO!".
Todd
J.R.:I would say that activeCollab is already much better than Basecamp even though it doesn't contain all of Basecamp's features. Anything that is missing is most likely on the way.
This is like saying Gimp is better than Photoshop even though it doesn't have all the features, and holding out for features that are 'most likely' on the way. I may be alone on this...but I prefer to use Gimp instead of Photoshop. It's not all about features for me- but philosophy. I WISH Gimp was better than Photoshop but it isn't, and that's OK.
Anyway, this was not my point. Perhaps I should have left out the part about it falling short of basecamp, which is totally subjective. I merely wanted to express my disappointment with the switch to a non-free model.
Alex:Ilijia has put in a heck of a lot of effort into this project right from the start, and I appluade him for it.
Me too! I applaude him for his contributions, but detest his decision to move into a pricing structure like this. There are a great number of software packages I use which required considerably more work and knowledge to produce, but still are offered for absolutely free.
But you know what, I'm just a crazy Linux user who will never again be forced to pay for software which (like it or not) was made better by feedback from its users and the community as a whole. It's important to remember that Ilijia had loads of free help from people on the internet - I'd wager that he uses Google on a daily basis to find answers to questions. Answers provided by other people at no cost to him.
I'm not opposed to anyone making money from an idea, or from using the ideas of others. I personally would have rather seen aC 1.0 have been free and GPL, with corporate, or just generally a paid support option. Go visit ubuntu.org - or sourceforge...I'd rather buy a pint for someone whose work I appreciate and admire than feel like the victim of a bait and switch.
toddgeist:Take couple of deep breaths... there are very few things (if any) that necessitate public name calling.
I happily handed over the 399 the minute it became available. and I have not regretted it one little bit. My team and I are much productive as a result.
I didn't do any name calling. I'm glad you handed over your money. I won't be asking the folks at 37 signals anything, because I don't use their product. I agree with all the positive things said about aC - but disagree with the business model, thats all. I think all this wonderful support you guys are giving aC would be better directed towards a project like dotproject.net or any other project intended to make the (computer) world a better place.
I edited my original post a bit to be a little less inflammatory...
Pro
No offense to the cheapskates in the FREE community, but I've tried many open source tools; including Sugar, Drupal, Joomla, Gimp, (and the list goes on) and most of them fall short - try to be too many things to too many people, lack features, or are simply horrendously designed.
Not only does Ilijia deserve to make money on HIS application, but I hope he gets to retire young as a result.
Open Source is fine idea, maybe even a noble idea. But, the quality, attention to detail, and customer support typical of many individual developers working hard to create a quality product is worth every damned penny.
So, give it a rest. If you don't want to pay for something, don't .. and do us all a favor and keep your preachy comments where they belong .. to yourself.
Frankly, if it were not for my own lack of technical ability, I would have tried developing a project collaboration tool myself. But, alas, I need smart people like Ilijia to do it for me. Besides, I never got such good customer support from 37 Signals.
Not only does Ilijia deserve to make money on HIS application, but I hope he gets to retire young as a result.
Open Source is fine idea, maybe even a noble idea. But, the quality, attention to detail, and customer support typical of many individual developers working hard to create a quality product is worth every damned penny.
So, give it a rest. If you don't want to pay for something, don't .. and do us all a favor and keep your preachy comments where they belong .. to yourself.
Frankly, if it were not for my own lack of technical ability, I would have tried developing a project collaboration tool myself. But, alas, I need smart people like Ilijia to do it for me. Besides, I never got such good customer support from 37 Signals.
Staff
Ilija Studen
on Oct 17. 2007. 5:22 pm
Thank you for commenting, but lets calm down a bit.
I completely understand collective efforts of the free software community and think they are doing a great job. Still, there is way too many examples where companies who sell software are making better products than FLOSS community. People don't mind paying for it as long as they are getting better software and service (pburt16 pointed out quality, attention to detail and customer support).
My opinion is that we can bring more value to our customers by selling software instead of giving it away for free and I hope v1.0 proves me right.
I completely understand collective efforts of the free software community and think they are doing a great job. Still, there is way too many examples where companies who sell software are making better products than FLOSS community. People don't mind paying for it as long as they are getting better software and service (pburt16 pointed out quality, attention to detail and customer support).
My opinion is that we can bring more value to our customers by selling software instead of giving it away for free and I hope v1.0 proves me right.
activeCollab Team Member | Experiment: activeCollab on Twitter
I completely agree with Ilija, hoppie, stop shouting and try the software, you can't say you can afford $399 (or $199 for the smallbiz version) for such quality...
Walid Iguer
You know what, you all can get pissed off at me for criticizing your wonderful activeCollab - After this though, I won't be able to stomach another reply to what is to me, capitalism at its most disgusting. It's so pathetic to me that you are all unable to see the reality of the situation here.
What type of web server do you think is hosting this site? Could it be a Linux server running Apache? Why write activeCollab in PHP and not asp.net? Are the developers of Smarty getting a fat payday? If you want to deny your reliance on the work of dedicated "cheapskates" like me, that's your choice...but don't try and justify another persons greed.
MOST of the people in the world make less than $2 a day. That's why I'll donate to DOTPROJECT.NET and maybe even buy a re-usable canvas shopping bag...Cause I'm a preachy asshole who should keep my comments to myself, while you jerk-offs continue to ruin it for the rest of us. I'm gonna go write my post at the left wing politico blog of my choosing now. later.
What type of web server do you think is hosting this site? Could it be a Linux server running Apache? Why write activeCollab in PHP and not asp.net? Are the developers of Smarty getting a fat payday? If you want to deny your reliance on the work of dedicated "cheapskates" like me, that's your choice...but don't try and justify another persons greed.
MOST of the people in the world make less than $2 a day. That's why I'll donate to DOTPROJECT.NET and maybe even buy a re-usable canvas shopping bag...Cause I'm a preachy asshole who should keep my comments to myself, while you jerk-offs continue to ruin it for the rest of us. I'm gonna go write my post at the left wing politico blog of my choosing now. later.
Topic is locked. If you have something important to say about issues discussed on this page please write at hi@a51dev.com.
