Beta Testers Needed Soon
In the next few days, I’m going to be offering a beta test version to anyone interested.
There are some minor requirements for the test, which most of you will already have in place:
1-Hosting account running Apache Linux (.htaccess needed for this test)
2-Safe mode off (server setting your host uses - commonly off)
3-dl() function enabled (common)
If you want to test out your site ahead of time, you could run this code:
<?php
if( !(bool)ini_get( "enable_dl" ) || (bool)ini_get( "safe_mode"
) ) {
die( "Loading extensions is not permitted.\n" );
}
?>
The reason for the last two has to do with the encryption method for the beta test software. I don’t have to encrypt the code, but I am - and I’m using Ioncube.
One of the decisions I’m wrestling with is protection of the source code:
1- No encryption
2- Encrypt using Ioncube - which works on most servers
3- Ponying up the money for a Zend license so that folks could choose Ioncube or Zend, with a virtual guarantee that one (if not both) will work on their server.
I’m leaning towards option 3.
Jean Moniatte says:
July 11th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
Do you plan on having a hosted version available? It could help for load testing and for beta testing the CMS functionalities (not the server side install).
Sam Sherlock says:
July 11th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Keen & Able to test, contact me by email if I can help
jackborn says:
July 11th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Jean,
I could work on putting one online. I’m a little concerned about handing control over — but I suppose I could do it for a limited time. I’m concerned someone could add some pretty offensive material… just thinking out loud.
Your idea has merit though. I just need to weigh the options.
jackborn says:
July 11th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Sam,
Great to hear it!
Make sure you’re signed up on the list (upper right corner of this blog.)
Richard says:
July 11th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
Jack,
to be honest I think it is a mistake to encrypt your code. Firstly you will lose a sale to any developer who may want access to the code to extend your product to meet the requirements of the site they are building for their clients. And this could be a large percentage of developers. I know this topic came up once and Sitepoint and many developers said they would refuse to by encrypted software for just this reason.
The second reason is that you severely hamper anyone who will want to write an extension for your cms. And I probably don’t need to tell you that a good development community is vital for a successful software package.
Just my thoughts mate.
Frogotopia says:
July 11th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Checked on my host server and it’s failed. How can I change safe mode off and/or dl() function enabled?
thaisie says:
July 12th, 2006 at 2:57 am
Count me in for the betatesting..
I will test the script tonight if it will work..
Phunky says:
July 12th, 2006 at 3:57 am
Cant wait for you to release this, would love to beta test it for you.
I currently mangle my way thru with WordPress
jackborn says:
July 12th, 2006 at 9:13 am
Wow, great comments… I’m sipping some coffee as I read through these and prepare to respond…
jackborn says:
July 12th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Richard,
I just sent you an email to discuss this licensing question.
I’d love to offer the source. There are benefits and also pitfalls to either choice. (Such is life)
@ Frogotopia:
If the source is available in the licensing, then only the first requirement is needed. And eventually, I imagine that the code will work with IIS servers too… just not as beautifully (URLs) as with Apache/Linux.
Fotis Evangelou says:
July 12th, 2006 at 10:42 am
It’s good to see that other people (like Richard) agree to an open code. That would certainly help build a good development community and expand the CMS’s functionality.
Richard said:
...I probably don’t need to tell you that a good development community is vital for a successful software package.
Very true! This is what seperates CMSs like Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress from others, like XOOPS, Typo3 etc.
Anyway, count me in for the beta test…
jackborn says:
July 12th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Fotis,
The decision I’m pondering is whether to encrypt the source or not.
I think Richard was speaking of CMS systems when he said “software”.
If he meant software in general, then I don’t think I agree that without a good development community that a software package cannot be successful and is doomed to failure. I’m not saying that I don’t want a good development community… just that there are plenty of examples of software with no development community that have, in fact, succeeded.
However, I think that the way I’ve set things up, there’s the real possibility that the community aspect could explode… since there’s really very little that you need to know to write a plugin.
Writing a plugin for most systems requires an understanding of a new API… specific functions and how the system operates.
To a large degree, all you need to write a plugin for my CMS is that ability to write PHP code.
And many “plugins” you see created for other systems are either native in my project, or so easily added into your template by using PHP that creating a “plugin” is kinda overkill.
Fotis Evangelou says:
July 12th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Well Jack, I guess Richard was talking about CMSs and not software in general. And I think he is absolutely right on that. See how Mambo has fallen after its “rebirth” in the form of Joomla…
If you believe that your CMS will be so easily expandable without people messing with the core, then why would one bother to simply add php scripts to it, when he could do the same thing with Cutenews for example, at no cost?
The good thing about open code is that one can “dig” deeper into it and produce something that the development team’s guidelines did not specify, either intentionally or not!
You are the “platform” provider and others develop freely on this platform. Some produce free extensions and some produce commercial extensions. Either way you can’t lose in my humble opinion! On the one hand you “grow” a strong community and you as a leader guide this community. People won’t mind to pay for your CMS since they can charge it to their clients. On the other hand, anyone who wishes to sell commercial extensions (like a cart system) should (would) pay a small commision to you (fee). And that wouldn’t be a problem too, since the fee would add to the developer’s targeted price and again to the end user, which is the client. We are talking about a few bucks, here.
So, to sum up, if the code is accessible to anyone and if of course the CMS proves to be something new and one that fills a gap in the CMS universe, then the community will boost its popularity and therefore its success. Take Mint for example.
Sure a few pirated copies will spread on P2P networks, but that can happen even if the code is encrypted. And you know what? If ultimately people find your CMS trully useful, they will buy it, because they will want the support, guidance and participation to the community!
jackborn says:
July 12th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Fotis,
While I’m not sure what you meant by the CuteNews remark… I have been giving this more thought and even went so far as to contact another software developer I know to ask about their experience selling software licenses for packages where the code is revealed.
The response I got from this peer was enlightening and gave me some ideas on how to satisfy my clients’ desires to see the code while reducing the amount of theft.
So don’t give up on me yet… I’m coming around.
Richard says:
July 12th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Yup by “software” I actually meant the cms.
And Jack I replied to your email thanks with my thoughts in a litte more detail.
Fotis: I agreed with every word you said. And I especially agree that while it may still be possible to write plugins to encrypted software developers frequently need access to change parts of the core code itself to fit the needs of that particular project.
Fotis Evangelou says:
July 13th, 2006 at 3:26 am
It’s nice to see we all agree!
Ian Landsman says:
July 16th, 2006 at 12:09 am
Everyone says they want open source when you ask, but that’s irrelevant. The question is do your customers want open source. My product (closed source PHP app) competes with many open source products and does very nice indeed.
I think the closed source nature of your CMS system could be a plus. How many people have had bad experiences because the developer customized the open source CMS and future developers couldn’t upgrade at all or needed to spend huge time and money to fix things up? I know I’ve hit this twice and I rarely did contract work. Also doing it open source will greatly increase your support costs down the road when people need help with their modified installations and you have to go through and find all their undocumented modifications.
If you make a great product, the source code is the least relevant aspect.
Oh, my 2 cents is to go with Zend only. Loading Ioncube through dl is slow. 2 Options just creates confusion. Zend has a new policy where you can distribute the optimizer so you don’t need to send people to their site to get it, so it’s not a big deal.
Richard says:
July 17th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
“The question is do your customers want open source.”
Err Ian, read this page. This is exactly what his customers want. And it is hardly irrelevant. I’ve no idea what your app is but for a cms it is very important that developers have access to the system to bend it to meet a massive variety of different needs. Any developer will tell you that very few jobs are exactly the same.
And as for your argument about issues with upgrading that is part and parcel of modifying off the shelf software. Every developer worth his salt takes that into consideration. If ongoing development is going to be an issue then you either keep searching till you find a commercial package that meets ALL your needs or you write your own from scratch. Which in many cases is not cost efficient.
You obviously have little experience into commercial website development or you would have never made those comments. Just because it suited your system to be closed source it doesn’t mean that it follows suite that all web apps should be.
jackborn says:
July 18th, 2006 at 1:24 am
Lets stick to the issues. We can argue agressively without attacking personally.
Richard, what would your thoughts be if a high quality cms had one file encrypted to ensure licensing but 99.9% of the code was visible?
Richard says:
July 18th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Jack, I don’t have any major problems with it.
The only issue I would have, which I imagine is solveable, is one that I’ve had with other protected packages is that I need to be able to work on a local copy of the software before uploading it to the clients website. You would need to manage your licensing system so that developers could run a copy per client on their own local development system.
As I’ve said to you I totally understand your need to protect your hard work. However you do need to consider how much this protection inconveniences your paying customers. Because quite frankly if your product is successful it is going to be craked within a day of it being released. As all software seems to be. So this protection is not going to inconvenience the thieves one bit. So as long as it’s not going to make it hard for me to install and use I have no problems with it at all.
Unfortunately where the internet is concerned it seems to boil down to the fact that those who would pay will and those who won’t won’t. Whether the software is protected or not.
Richard says:
July 19th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
Jack: how far off is a working version of your product going to be ? I’me about to quote for a very profitable job that requires a cms and I’m wondering if it is worth considering for this one>
JFSIII says:
July 20th, 2006 at 8:13 am
Jack,
I’ve been using Drupal as well as jQuery alot lately.
I’d like to beta test if you need another person to email you bug reports and feature requests.
Later,
John
jackborn says:
July 20th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Richard,
Working version is actually ready to roll. But as we have discussed here, my intention now is to have 99.99% of the code visible.
Changing from encoded to visible has inspired me to go back through the code and tidy up a bit… which slows down the official release.
But I should have something available for you to test soon. A few days.
Pat Collins says:
July 20th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Hopefully this is the right product at the right time. I hope to beta test it when you get it cleaned up and release it!
Pat
meohaw says:
July 24th, 2006 at 6:42 am
Keen to test and help you! You can e-mail me if you like!
Richard says:
July 31st, 2006 at 3:16 am
Hmmm these few days are stretching out a bit…
As a programmer myself I can guess the reason. When ever you re-read old code you’ve written you invariably come accross code that makes you wonder what on earth you were thinking when you did it that way and you just “have” to rewrite it.
Any updates Jack?
jackborn says:
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Richard,
I appreciate your patience… and yes, I can tell you’re a programmer yourself.
Geez… I’ve been working like a dog to get other projects out of the way. One just launched today, and now I think what I’ll have to do is settle for a little imperfection in order to get back on track.
I want all of you generous folk to get a copy to start using. The compromise I will have to make is open code during beta for speed. My intention right now is to make the code visible (I have to avoid saying Open Source) but I don’t want to rewire everything and lose your interest.
So… that’s where I’m at.
I’ll be announcing a beta download site soon.
(Naming the product is a whole separate issue.)
Steven says:
August 10th, 2006 at 5:14 am
I’m looking forward to the download to test drive it!
I assume that you’re working on some documentation as well? I see you have created videos so that would be great!
Tåkesinn says:
August 16th, 2006 at 12:11 am
Mind if I throw my self on the pile? Personaly I haven’t been to this site before or even known of it’s excistance, I was out gathering web-development tips when I came over this site. I use WordPress my self and I’m cramming it full of plugins and such to make it work to my needs. A community web-site where users may share media, stories, and help. WordPress does the job better than any other CMS out there but it’s still not a CMS.
So I want to try it as well. I’ve tested em’ all, big or small, costly or free. What does YOUR CMS have that theirs don’t? Every CMS claims to make it “easier” on every Jhon Doe surfing your web-site and applying to it. So far most have bragged more than they delivered. I wanna test it to either spread the word or dust this one under the carpet like so many others.
Am I in?
Richard says:
August 22nd, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Any news?
Steven says:
August 23rd, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Yes I’m really interested to look at this too!!
Lankmarka says:
August 29th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Just discovered your site. Looks like a good solution to the constant screwing-up of sites by clients pasting Word crap. Very interested in beta testing if poss…
Jubal says:
August 31st, 2006 at 8:29 am
If it makes it as easy as it sounds, then the benefit would outweigh the overhead of follow-up support. I would like to beta test if needed as this sounds promising (i hope!)
hellasguy says:
September 16th, 2006 at 10:52 am
I can help with beta test if you need sych help
good luck on your project