DokuWiki Sync Plugin for Sale
Yes, you read it right. I want to try something new.
People sometimes ask if individual people can really earn money with Open Source software. There are the big companies like IBM, Sun or Redhat that earn millions of Dollars with Open Source. But individuals?
Over the last weeks I wrote a DokuWiki plugin which can synchronize page and media data between two DokuWiki instances. I think that this plugin is especially interesting for companies and I assume they wouldn't mind paying some money for it.
So here is what I want to do. Instead of just releasing the plugin as I did with all my previous plugins and DokuWiki itself, I want to sell it. But I don't want to sell it per copy as it is usually done with closed source software.
Instead I set a fixed price, then everyone interested in the plugin can add a sum, and as soon as the price is reached I release the plugin to be downloaded by everyone.
The plugin is licensed under the GPL2 of course and all terms of it will apply as usual when it is released.
The Sync Plugin
Okay, let's talk about the plugin now.
The plugin requires a DokuWiki development snapshot later than 2008-03-02 which can be easily downloaded here.
Check out the screenshots below to get an idea how it works. The plugin currently has the following features:
- Create multiple sync profiles to sync with different servers/wikis
- Optionally restrict syncing to media or pages only
- Optionally restrict syncing to a given namespace
- Optionally restrict syncing to a certain namespace depth
- Provide login credentials to sync restricted pages
- Automatically detects what changed locally and remote and suggests the sync direction
- Provides the usual diff view to compare local and remote page version
- Synced pages show up as edits in the recent changes
- Completely localized (English and German only currently)
Before you ask, when the same page changed on both sides, it is your choice which version to keep or to do a manual merge. The plugin does not merge pages itself currently1).
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Update: Because it might not have been clear: You only need access to the remote wiki during the sync. The plugin is meant for users that want to keep a local wiki on their laptop while traveling. The plugin allows them to sync back changes made on the road.
Releasing the Plugin
Now how much do I want? That is a hard question. Unlike with commercial software where you get money for each copy I only get money once. So it is more like a individual software order. So with considering development time and possible usefulness for enterprise users I came up with the nice sum of $750.
Again: I do not expect any single person to pay that sum. Like Open Source is a collective approach to creating software, this is a collective approach to paying for software 
.
Payment is handled via Paypal and I use chipin.com for tracking the progress.
So if the plugin would be useful to you, just chip in. The faster the goal is reached, the faster the plugin is released for everyone.
If you have any questions on the plugin or the whole “selling” thing, please leave a comment. I curious how this will work out.
1)
I'm happy to add it if someone can point me at PHP-only merge implementation.
2Hehe holding code hostage, is a nice way to describe this business model ;-). And yes my usual job involves making money by services and customization of Open Source software, so I know that very well. But I wanted to know if this "easier" model could work, too.
About the amount, I wasn't sure what sum I should ask for. 750$ gives me an average hourly rate. But you're probably right that a single company could easily pay this right away. The question is if any will do.
About the amount, I wasn't sure what sum I should ask for. 750$ gives me an average hourly rate. But you're probably right that a single company could easily pay this right away. The question is if any will do.
2009-03-09 09:19:09
3Hi Andi,
interesting approach. While I still prefer donations/bounties as the main source to support FOSS projects, your "reverse bounty" way makes sense too, especially from a developer's POV.
interesting approach. While I still prefer donations/bounties as the main source to support FOSS projects, your "reverse bounty" way makes sense too, especially from a developer's POV.
2009-03-09 12:59:11
4Finally!
So with this i can kick my errorprone unison-script to sync two wikis into the trash, cool really cool.
But is there another way to donate without using paypal? i don't have an account there :)
So with this i can kick my errorprone unison-script to sync two wikis into the trash, cool really cool.
But is there another way to donate without using paypal? i don't have an account there :)
2009-03-09 14:30:42
maex
5Sorry maex, only Paypal for this one. It makes tracking progress (for me and other contributors) much easier. Since you seem to be based in Germany it shouldn't be a problem for you to create a Paypal account.
2009-03-09 14:35:36
6Hallo Andi,
diese Idee mit dem Sponsoring gefällt mir. Ich bin gespannt, wie die DokuWiki Gemeinde den Gedanken aufnimmt und honoriert.
Von Lob und Anerkennung kannst Du weder Durst und Hunger stillen noch Dir Wohnung, Frau und Katze leisten.
Du gehst mit Konzept und Entwurf in Vorleistung. Wem die Erweiterung Nutzen bringt, der soll etwas in den Sammelkorb geben, damit es umgesetzt wird.
Wenn diese Form Motivation für die Programmierung läuft, dann könnte ich mir als Fortentwicklung eine Vorstufe denken.
Du hast ganz sicher eine Reihe von Ideen, die für die Fortentwicklung von DokuWiki interessant wären.
Formuliere Plugin-Ideen und einen notwendigen Realisierung-Betrag. Anwender, die bereit sind dafür etwas zu spenden signalisieren Dir Ihr Interesse mit Kontaktdaten und einem Betrag.
Die Kontaktdaten sind nur Dir offen. Die aufgelaufene Summe der erklärten Beträge wird bei dem Projekt angezeigt.
So bekommst Du von der Front eine Messgröße in Euro, was gebraucht und in Euro honoriert würde.
Wenn der Realisierungs-Betrag überschritten ist, dann erstellst Du ein Feinkonzept und überprüfst Deine Kalkulation. Danach bringst Du dieses ChipIn in Stellung. Dann wirst Du sehen ob die Voraberklärungen alle Ihren Anteil in den Sammelkorb einzahlen.
diese Idee mit dem Sponsoring gefällt mir. Ich bin gespannt, wie die DokuWiki Gemeinde den Gedanken aufnimmt und honoriert.
Von Lob und Anerkennung kannst Du weder Durst und Hunger stillen noch Dir Wohnung, Frau und Katze leisten.
Du gehst mit Konzept und Entwurf in Vorleistung. Wem die Erweiterung Nutzen bringt, der soll etwas in den Sammelkorb geben, damit es umgesetzt wird.
Wenn diese Form Motivation für die Programmierung läuft, dann könnte ich mir als Fortentwicklung eine Vorstufe denken.
Du hast ganz sicher eine Reihe von Ideen, die für die Fortentwicklung von DokuWiki interessant wären.
Formuliere Plugin-Ideen und einen notwendigen Realisierung-Betrag. Anwender, die bereit sind dafür etwas zu spenden signalisieren Dir Ihr Interesse mit Kontaktdaten und einem Betrag.
Die Kontaktdaten sind nur Dir offen. Die aufgelaufene Summe der erklärten Beträge wird bei dem Projekt angezeigt.
So bekommst Du von der Front eine Messgröße in Euro, was gebraucht und in Euro honoriert würde.
Wenn der Realisierungs-Betrag überschritten ist, dann erstellst Du ein Feinkonzept und überprüfst Deine Kalkulation. Danach bringst Du dieses ChipIn in Stellung. Dann wirst Du sehen ob die Voraberklärungen alle Ihren Anteil in den Sammelkorb einzahlen.
2009-03-10 10:01:45
Otto Riehl
7I have participated in an online ransom using the https://www.fundable.com/ site. If was very easy to use for someone looking to donate. I would suggest checking it out if you aren't already aware of it. Good luck on your endeavour!
2009-03-10 17:37:38
8fundable.com looks interesting. I will definitively consider it, should I ever try a similar thing again. Thanks for the tip.
2009-03-10 17:55:45
9First time i pay to be banned.
Lol
Sorry for my Html post on the list, i don't take care.
I give my two Cents, hope they will help.
Peace.
Lol
Sorry for my Html post on the list, i don't take care.
I give my two Cents, hope they will help.
Peace.
2009-03-10 23:02:33
10My question: what if you reach 700$, but never more. What becomes the money the interested people gave you?
2009-03-11 16:35:44
Grahack
11Grahack, that question assumes that there is a deadline. But the deal is that I release the plugin as soon as the amount is reached. If that takes a month or three years, just depends on the donors.
Well, at least that's the theory. Since I consider the whole thing as an experiment I will probably declare the whole thing as failed and just the release the plugin anyway when I get tired of waiting for reaching the goal. (Yes, I'm fully aware that disclosing this really hurts the business plan ;-))
Well, at least that's the theory. Since I consider the whole thing as an experiment I will probably declare the whole thing as failed and just the release the plugin anyway when I get tired of waiting for reaching the goal. (Yes, I'm fully aware that disclosing this really hurts the business plan ;-))
2009-03-12 19:52:39
12Are you aware the little widget says "Ending Apr 30"? It makes it seem like there _is_ in fact, a deadline
2009-03-12 22:16:27
13Yeah, stupid limitation of chipin.com. You have to set a date but can extend it whenever you like. Changed it to Dec 30.
2009-03-12 22:30:19
14I would like to second maex's objection to paypal-only. I refuse to use paypal due to privacy/security concerns, not because of how easy or difficult it is to set up an account (I know - I may be certifiably paranoid... but there it is!).
If you tell me another way to donate I will - then you can "donate" the same amount to yourself via paypal (minus the paypal overhead, if any) to keep the the chipin widget up to date...
What about a modified ransom model: release the plugin, but charge folks for the ability to schedule automatic synchronization. This would let users try it out manually, but require (strongly suggest?) payment if, like me, they really want an automated backup system and/or a way to have wikis that are local to each company office, yet synchronize with each other automatically.
A question: can I sync the entire remote wiki into a namespace on the local wiki, or vice versa? Then I could use my wiki server as a backup for all of my clients' wikis - wikiA <==> mywiki/wikiA, wikiB <==>mywiki/wikiB, etc.
If you tell me another way to donate I will - then you can "donate" the same amount to yourself via paypal (minus the paypal overhead, if any) to keep the the chipin widget up to date...
What about a modified ransom model: release the plugin, but charge folks for the ability to schedule automatic synchronization. This would let users try it out manually, but require (strongly suggest?) payment if, like me, they really want an automated backup system and/or a way to have wikis that are local to each company office, yet synchronize with each other automatically.
A question: can I sync the entire remote wiki into a namespace on the local wiki, or vice versa? Then I could use my wiki server as a backup for all of my clients' wikis - wikiA <==> mywiki/wikiA, wikiB <==>mywiki/wikiB, etc.
2009-03-14 16:41:56
Michael
15I really don't understand why people that use DokuWiki and the whole community can't give two cents to this plugins, and to one of the main fellow guy of the web sphere, Andi.
Yep, my flow in English isn't very clear, but i would to say that it is important to help free project like DokuWiki.
DokuWiki is so cool to use. The community is active.
One big company ask me about one of my plugins. ((my plugins are nasty and sad hack of the core source of DW)). But they were interested in CENSURE, a plugins for information segregation.
Paypal is a cool service, i never have problem with it.
You can also send money by postalCard and so one.
A cool postalcard board on the DW main site could be an old sad remain of what Open Source software was before ... HADOPI (My french terror)
Yep, my flow in English isn't very clear, but i would to say that it is important to help free project like DokuWiki.
DokuWiki is so cool to use. The community is active.
One big company ask me about one of my plugins. ((my plugins are nasty and sad hack of the core source of DW)). But they were interested in CENSURE, a plugins for information segregation.
Paypal is a cool service, i never have problem with it.
You can also send money by postalCard and so one.
A cool postalcard board on the DW main site could be an old sad remain of what Open Source software was before ... HADOPI (My french terror)
2009-03-17 00:21:18
16Well, it's an interesting idea, but I don't think it will work very well.
First of all, you're asking people to pay to allow others to use the plugin for free. That's pretty much the opposite of how most people make spending choices.
Second, there's no immediate return on the investment. Why would I pay to maybe get what I want someday? I'm not going to give you money so that I can wait until others have given theirs to you too. In fact, screw immediate return- there's no guarantee that I will EVER see this plugin. I may be the only one to ever throw money in the pot, and then it's lost.
Third, there's no reason to pay a lot of money. If you had different levels of payment with different rewards, then I could maybe see this working.
ie:
$10 - You get the plugin now, with the agreement that you don't share with anyone. If others are seen using the plugin before the $750 is collected, make it so that the plugin no longer works on newer versions of DW.
$20 - $10 level + higher-priority support.
$50 - $20 level + I don't know... a t-shirt?
Etc.
First of all, you're asking people to pay to allow others to use the plugin for free. That's pretty much the opposite of how most people make spending choices.
Second, there's no immediate return on the investment. Why would I pay to maybe get what I want someday? I'm not going to give you money so that I can wait until others have given theirs to you too. In fact, screw immediate return- there's no guarantee that I will EVER see this plugin. I may be the only one to ever throw money in the pot, and then it's lost.
Third, there's no reason to pay a lot of money. If you had different levels of payment with different rewards, then I could maybe see this working.
ie:
$10 - You get the plugin now, with the agreement that you don't share with anyone. If others are seen using the plugin before the $750 is collected, make it so that the plugin no longer works on newer versions of DW.
$20 - $10 level + higher-priority support.
$50 - $20 level + I don't know... a t-shirt?
Etc.
2009-03-20 21:38:47
Ryan Fox
17Interesting experiment in raising money for a developer's work. I'm gonna follow this to know what happens.
Let me share my thought on this ongoing experiment:
- I don't like the idea of code being held hostage.
- I know that any serious open source developer would release the code even if the whole sum is not raised, so if I were an interested company I'd rather wait than pay. The reason for this being that paying only a fraction don't allow for an immediate use of the code. Let me add that this is the current perceived situation due to ongoing habits but this could be different in the future (or with opensource friendly companies).
- would this one shot ransom earn more than a long term donation ?
- I dislike ebay and boycott their services such as paypal, it hurts to think that they make money on opensource works. Finding another way to transfer the money would be mandatory for me to actually contribute to the ransom.
- What about a subscription business model evolving into a free license release when a certain amount is reached ? This would allow the subscriber to benefit immediately from their contribution to the ransom
- What about letting the subscribers choose the type of free license they like based on the amount of money raised ? I know some companies would prefer a bsd type license to a gpl type. (does it really make sense when we're talking about a plugin for a gpl'ed main software ?)
Let me share my thought on this ongoing experiment:
- I don't like the idea of code being held hostage.
- I know that any serious open source developer would release the code even if the whole sum is not raised, so if I were an interested company I'd rather wait than pay. The reason for this being that paying only a fraction don't allow for an immediate use of the code. Let me add that this is the current perceived situation due to ongoing habits but this could be different in the future (or with opensource friendly companies).
- would this one shot ransom earn more than a long term donation ?
- I dislike ebay and boycott their services such as paypal, it hurts to think that they make money on opensource works. Finding another way to transfer the money would be mandatory for me to actually contribute to the ransom.
- What about a subscription business model evolving into a free license release when a certain amount is reached ? This would allow the subscriber to benefit immediately from their contribution to the ransom
- What about letting the subscribers choose the type of free license they like based on the amount of money raised ? I know some companies would prefer a bsd type license to a gpl type. (does it really make sense when we're talking about a plugin for a gpl'ed main software ?)
2009-04-01 23:48:29
magicfingers
18Andi,
I just contributed. Two comments:
(1) I don't mind contributing in any case, because I've been using dokuwiki for 3 years and greatly appreciate your work.
(2) I don't much like the hostage business model, as it is strange to pay an then have no idea when I will be able to use the software.
Best,
Jim
I just contributed. Two comments:
(1) I don't mind contributing in any case, because I've been using dokuwiki for 3 years and greatly appreciate your work.
(2) I don't much like the hostage business model, as it is strange to pay an then have no idea when I will be able to use the software.
Best,
Jim
2009-05-17 01:04:47
Jim Fickett
19A shame you've chosen that model. I'm a student and I'd really love to have this available as I'm probably unable to rely on (decent) internet connectivity during class which makes it extremely difficult to use DokuWiki for note-taking during lectures unless I run a local copy on my laptop.
Had the model been per-user (*hopefully* releasing the entire thing once the overall goal had been met) I'd have jumped at it straight away.
Guess I'll have to start figuring out how DokuWiki is put together and see if some SVN hack or similar can be made to work - I can't donate 220USD for such a product (read: students are poor ;) ) neither can I wait through a semester or two.
(essentially: *cry* *cry* *cry* *whine* *whine* *whine* )
Please consider allowing those who donated to actually get the code to put to work under some (temporary) proprietary license. Then I'd donate straight away
Had the model been per-user (*hopefully* releasing the entire thing once the overall goal had been met) I'd have jumped at it straight away.
Guess I'll have to start figuring out how DokuWiki is put together and see if some SVN hack or similar can be made to work - I can't donate 220USD for such a product (read: students are poor ;) ) neither can I wait through a semester or two.
(essentially: *cry* *cry* *cry* *whine* *whine* *whine* )
Please consider allowing those who donated to actually get the code to put to work under some (temporary) proprietary license. Then I'd donate straight away
2009-08-31 01:00:17
Icarus
Hi, I'm Andreas Gohr and splitbrain.org is my website.I'm a Web, Wiki and Open Source enthusiast living in Berlin, Germany. Enjoy your stay here.
No tags, yet. Why don't you bookmark it?
Oh, and front the feature list, I would have expected the price tag to be much higher, especially since you developed up front and are taking a "risk" from it. For any company making a serious use of dokuwiki with such a need, $750 is probably something they could pay themselves.