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May
12
2008
GroupJive and How to Support GPL Projects

Group Jive LogoWe've posted a few times about Group Jive, the only component available for Joomla that allows site members to create their own social networking groups. I've called it a vital extension if Joomla hopes to compete as a social networking platform, but the project has had a checkered history and unfortunately it seems that its stumbling again. They're on MicroPledge.com looking for donations to help make the component work natively on Joomla 1.5.

Rocketwerx recently did something very similar and raised over $2500 towards finishing their Joomla 1.5 and phpBB3 Bridge. That caused a mixed reaction from members of their forum but its possible that this fundraiser may breathe new life into the Group Jive effort.

What Work Will the Group Jive Fundraiser Support?

  • Update the GroupJive component to be Joomla 1.5 native compatible.
  • Include support for Fireboard forum integration and adding events to the group from EventList 0.9.2.
  • Add a plugin api to the component similar the the plugin system for Community Builder .

Alternative Fundraising Methods for Non-Commercial GPL Projects

  • Donations. Unfortunately anyone who has tried this will tell you it doesn't work. Very few people donate and when they do its often 10 cents from which PayPal will kindly donate 50 cents.
  • Advertising. If you have a very popular product, it is possible to make a few hundred dollars per month using Adsense. Its also possible to sell ads to other developers as BestofJoomla.com are doing.
  • Value-Added Extras. Community Builder charges for extra documentation although not support which is free on its forum.
  • Partners. Nooku has a partners program giving first access to new features and officla certification to developers using the product.
  • Commercial Extras. Community Builder will soon start selling a commercial package that allows people to subscribe to Joomla sites.

Over to You ...

  • You may recognize a lot of these business models from our discussions about the commercial GPL. Does the GPL inevitably lead to blurring of the lines between commercial and non-commercial software and is that a bad thing?
  • Are there other ways that projects like Group Jive could raise funds?
 

Comments  

 
#1 Joseph LeBlanc 2008-05-12 12:13
I think this is a good model when you set people's expectations appropriately. I've toyed around with the idea of doing this, but so far I've tried to keep my consulting work separate from my OS side projects. Also, regardless of the model used, people's expectations of your software inevitably goes up when money is involved.
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#2 Steve Burge 2008-05-13 10:05
"Also, regardless of the model used, people's expectations of your software inevitably goes up when money is involved."

Very true ... managing people's expectations is important. You can see that in the rocketwerx forums ... "we donated, so why aren't all the bugs fixed yet?"
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#3 Bob Simpson 2008-05-14 08:45
GroupJive has a lot of potential and we certainly have clients who could use its features. But people do have to make a living and also balance their lives out. Stressed out anxiety-ridden programmers are doing no favors to themselves or to others.

I'm curious to see how the business model being used by Andrew Eddie over JExtended works out. I'm also interested to see if the changes planned by the Community Builder team help their situation.

I often tell our clients that technology is hard but that people are harder. We sometimes lose sight of the fact that not every problem in tech has a technical fix.

Bob "Bobbo" Simpson
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#4 Daniel Chapman 2008-05-14 09:57
I think blurring between licenses and commercial/non commercial is always going to happen because of people's poor understanding of the differences between the two.

The line between commercial and non-commercial is far more blurry though. I would personally consider anything that brought in money to be a commercial endeavor of some sort. Just those that are 'voluntary' are considered by some people to be non-commercial because it's optional.

Most people's introduction to Open Source is when they got something for free, so they assume that's how OS is, always free. Which causes a problem when they come up to a commercial or semi commercial project.

I think it's a good turn myself. Because you can't go forever on nothing.
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#5 Copes Flavio 2008-05-14 13:06
If you reach a certain level of complexity in Open Source software, you've got to be payed to do the job.

In a way or in another.
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#6 Steve Burge 2008-05-14 13:15
Quote:
If you reach a certain level of complexity in Open Source software, you've got to be payed to do the job.

Quote:
I think blurring between licenses and commercial/non commercial is always going to happen because of people's poor understanding of the differences between the two.


Both very true - the old problem of people thinking that Open Source has to be "free" as in "give me your hard work" rather than "free" as in "allow me to add my own hard work".
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#7 Daniel Chapman 2008-05-14 19:35
Quote:
If you reach a certain level of complexity in Open Source software, you've got to be payed to do the job.


Yes, this is very true. If not, then the software is capped at a certain level of complexity. I have seen this on a lot of projects. They start out as a fun thing, but as they complexity grows they demands grow, the bugs grow, the conflicts grow and the fun becomes work.

At this point development either grinds to a halt, they pass on the project to others, or they turn commercial in some way to justify the time investment they are making.
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#8 guido 2008-05-21 03:01
I agree with you about the commercial way: definitely the way to go when a project becomes complex.
And that's why it would be right to spread the word about the Jfusion bridge (another one??).
It's a very good project, supporting integration with phpBB3, vBulletin 3.7.0, SMF, IPB, myBB and magento. The founder put this chipin online in order to publish a first beta before 19th June
http://jfusion.chipin.com/jfusion
It's even an improvement on rocketwerx, they asked and got the chipin completed, but still don't provide any date...and their work seems far from completed...
apart from this I don't want to compare the two OS endavours, the developers have to be thanked for their work!
So, please, spread the word about Jfusion as well!!
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#9 mgltacoma 2008-05-27 11:58
Is nt joomla.org now using phpBB3 and joomla 1.5?
They must have that bridge already wrote. Why do not they give it back to the community?
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#10 Steve Burge 2008-05-27 12:00
Hi mgltacoma

No bridge - they're just using phpBB3 by itself.
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