[Zenoss-dev] Re: revisiting a feature request: 2486

[Erik A. Dahl]

Just getting caught up on the list and wanted to give my $0.02 here.    
I think I missed the drift of the original post which was really about  
implementing a ticket that had a patch associated with it not  
implementing topology discovery of of IPv6 networks.  That would be a  
pretty big task requiring resources which are always a scarce in a  
startup company.

Clearly commercial open source companies must walk a tight rope when  
it comes to the relationship between the open source and commercial  
offerings.   We need to put enough into the commercial product so that  
we can sell software to make money that allows us to make more  
software which to date has been largely open source.  We also need to  
put enough into the open source project so that the community grows  
and continues to find our software useful.   Easy to state hard to  
accomplish.  Certainly we aren't trying to take out a key piece of  
functionality that makes the open source software crippleware.

Anyway hope you stay with us as we navigate what will surely be an  
interesting path.

-EAD

On Feb 7, 2008, at 11:27 AM, daviz00 wrote:

>
> ecn wrote:
>> Gulp.
>>
>> Ya, Chet's pretty amazing.   And really busy with customers these  
>> days.
>>
>> I've asked the poster of the original ticket for a contributor's  
>> agreement (and that's just a visit to the form), so that I could  
>> commit it and re-release it.
>>
>> I have the change tested and ready to commit as soon as we get his  
>> response, or I drag it past our lawyer for review.  Read this as  
>> "it will be done soon"
>>
>> If you feel somehow rebuffed by Erik's comments, I'm sure it was  
>> taken the wrong way.  He often assigns community issues needing  
>> help to an internal developer, especially if we are getting a  
>> substantial contribution in return.
>>
>> This looked pretty easy... and for a Zenoss developer, a simple  
>> addition to their own plugins.  Maybe even as a zenpack, for easy  
>> distribution to the rest of the community.
>>
>> We're having a hard time just keeping up with all the community  
>> involvement.  And yes, customers kinda bubble up to the top.
>>
>> Finally, I would point to SNMPv3 support release recently.  It was  
>> done for a potential customer, but now everyone in the community  
>> can use it. Sharing works the other way just as often.
>
>
> Well I'll admit I was a bit pissed off at other issues and I guess I  
> took some of that out here. I was overly harsh and I'll admit that.  
> I still will say good things about this project. Just the mention of  
> paying up to get a voice in the matter seemed to set me off.
>
> In my personal experience I've dealt with other Corporate-ran OSS  
> projects, many of them not even as good as Zenoss from a business  
> perspective. What I usually find is that the company simply abuses  
> the OSS communities will to build a better solution for profit and  
> gives little back. Usually a semi-critical component is just missing  
> and people who try to recreate it are having issues with the company  
> never implementing it. I've actually been one of these "silenced"  
> developers and thats why I feel so strongly about these issues. I've  
> spent months developing a free addon for a popular project I wont  
> name only to have them all in all refuse to include it because it  
> conflicts with a feature from their "paid" version. OSS is OSS, not  
> some bastardized OSS that will only include features that dont hurt  
> the bottom line.
>
> I've heard the whole "pay up or do it yourself" so many times it  
> just instantly puts me in a bad mood. Why cant we evaluate if this  
> is wanted or perhaps maybe have a simple poll somewhere that people  
> can vote on the current requests so they are ranked?
>
> A simple voting system would help show the community that they are  
> driving the development of new features and not some hidden agenda.
>
> Dont take it personal Zenoss... You just have the companies before  
> you to blame for ruining some of the trust issues. I'm sure you have  
> the best of intentions and I will continue my attempt to persuade my  
> company to purchase your products and services.
>
> Good luck.
>
> </rant>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------- m2f --------------------
>
> Read this topic online here:
> http://community.zenoss.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=16178#16178
>
> -------------------- m2f --------------------
>
>
>
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-EAD

Erik A. Dahl
Co-Founder and CTO, Zenoss Inc.
http://www.zenoss.com