Alternative plugin repo

Hi all,

I am getting more and more notices from the Elgg team that I am violating the terms for posting plugins on this site. It's getting quite annoying. Is there an alternative location to host non-GPL plugins? If not, do we want to start something like that? I could obviously host my plugins on my own server, but having a centralized place would benefit everyone.

  • Clearly, Elgg team is hostile to the idea of paid plugins, which is understandable. We just need to make it work elsewhere.

    @Cim, I think many people have already told you this - you can't expect everything to be free. It takes me anywhere from 20 to 50 hours to develop a plugin, and then many more hours to debug it, and prep it for distribution. Now, I could obviously go and do this elsewhere, but I believe in Elgg and it's potential. I am not seeking to make huge profit, all I need is that my time and effort is respected. You take every chance to diss someone on trying to offer a paid service - and people like you make me want to remove all of my GPL plugins altogether.

    @Steve, thanks for your 2 cents. Really appreciate your input.

    @Cash, now that you have an Elgg Foundation, a paid plugin repository could actually be great. You would get to keep a share of all the sales, and I have no problem committing 20 to 30% of everything I make on Elgg to actually supporting core development.

    @Mike, I think we are just wasting energy here. Let's talk this over on skype and figure out a way forward, where we don't have to deal with hostile attitudes.

  • @ihayredinov - concept of Elgg core development taking a comission on sales of non-GPL plugins sold via some service they offer would be a great idea in my mind. Not that I've ever released a commercial plugin, but if I did I'd be happy to let Elgg take a bit to fund themselves. Afterall if core development runs out of cash 3rd party devs can't make much money either.

  • Folks, this may not have been obvious, but since November 2010 Elgg core development has been completely volunteer-based. No one is getting paid to work on core.

    Also, I was wrong about Joomla. It only allows GPL extensions in its repository. I haven't found a FOSS project with commercial plugins.

     

  • Wordpress is firmly committed to having only GPL plugins in their repository. Here is an example of a premium plugin web site for WP: http://wpplugins.com/

    Here is another site that allows developers to sell plugins for different platforms: http://www.binpress.com/

  • Joomla however gives a possibility to developers to list their commercial plugins hosted elsewhere. Which could be a good option.

  • Cash, a website I sent you a link for is an open source platform with a market for commercial plugins. They have 110.000 users out of which 50.000 are advanced members (which means they are active). Lately they gain approx. 1000 users per week. (they're not under GPL licence although they're under OS and commercial licence, similar like Elgg is under GPL and MIT ).

  • So far I have heard back grom Dhrup, Mike (vazco) and Team Webgalli - all interested in cooperating to create/host/build an alternative plugin repository. I think it's best if we combine these discussions in one place and come up with something constructive.

    I have set up a google group, and if this subject is of relevance to you, please join in:

    http://groups.google.com/group/elgg-plugin-repository

  • it's the vision that makes elgg successful
    not the money

    cash is 100% right
    i think, commercials interests will destroy
    the vision to build the best open source community software at all
    this comes not in one day . . .
    a milestone will be elgg 1.8
    with the new menu-system and the new css
    elgg becomes better and better . . .

    i belief in elgg
    it's a great luck that we have three people
    cash, brett and  evan who are fighting for the vision
    and because elgg has extra ordinary ;-) coders in the community
    e. g. jeroen dalsem, pedro prez . . .
    and because the community has beautiful people like
    e. g. DhrupDeScoop, shouvik, susan tsairi, trajan, steve aquila, rjcalifonia, cim, iionly, team webgalli, jerome bakker, kevin jardine, mariano, ghumanz, jon maul . . . .
    so, what !? ;-))

  • Speaking of vision we have to also think about sustainability. I greatly appreciate the effort that Brett, Cash and Evan are putting into making Elgg a success, yet it also worries me that they do it so selflessly. Volunteering for a greater cause is a wonderful thing, but there comes time in every one's life, when they can longer do it. It will be unfortunate if either one of them has to leave the team, because they have to earn a living.

    So the question is how do you take a sucessful open source application, and transform into a successful open source business model. That's very tricky, and while I appreciate different approaches, I grow vary of people who think that open source implies everything for free. There are multiple trade-offs that we should keep in mind.

    There are models that have proven themselves, and indeed WordPress is one of them. But I would advise Elgg team to really think through not just the model, but the sustainability aspect of it. In a long run, WordPress model may be damaging. Contextually WordPress and Elgg are different. Elgg is more knowledge-intensive, much more work goes into customizing it, adapating it to your needs, and a common folk does not always have enough expertise to deploy it.

    WordPress serves one person (the author of the blog), whereas Elgg serves communities. It would be easier to capitalize on Elgg, while keeping it open-source. I would really like to see Brett, Cash and Evan paid for what they do. And I am happy to assist any way I can, which would also include donating a share of my revenue from Elgg-based development and sales to the Foundation.

    You only truly appreciate Elgg if you are a developer and have seen the insides of the platform. I can hardly see Elgg Foundation getting lots of money from common people (like WordPress does). The driving force behind Elgg is the developers, so you should really start supporting and engaging us, while maintaining our interest in the system.

    This is not just about money to me. It's more about self-respect. I am happy to do things for free, when I can (and you can see that my contribution to this community is worth hundreds of hours). But I also want to have a normal life, where my job pays back and supports my lifestyle.

  • @ihayredinov i understand you
    but to make money with elgg is difficult ;-))

    to earn money by selling plugins for the community is not a good idea
    to make the money outside the community, is a better approach

    make money with developing a plugin for a client and then give it for nothing to community
    make money modifying a plugin for a client and then give it for nothing back to community
    make money with supporting and teaching elgg
    make a plugin for yourself and give it for nothing to community . . .
    so it works

    cash, brett and evan are doing a great job on a high level and they are not payable
    i think, at time they did'nt get back, what they invest
    but i am sure they will do
    and perhaps you too