More commercial GPL, more collaboration?
Sort of a continuation on this topic, with a bit more focus on commercial GPL developers and collaboration.
There is also the following development: every extension developer building the same extensions. There are at least 4 or 5 extension developers building: membership extensions, newsletter extensions, form building extensions and so on. Probably to up sell them to their clients.
Now, the above is a logical business step, and I know choice is good, but its not exactly the best for Joomla!, right? As some already mentioned in the other topic, it woud be better if GPL extension developers focused more on integration and/or collaboration between each other then creating entire portfolio's of extensions the competition also haves.
If every single extension would be innovative, that would be another story. But most extensions are just the same functionality in a different flavour.
And, is it "choice"? Think about this: instead of using membership extension Y from company Y (because thats what I need) and newsletter extensions X from company X, I have to use/buy all extensions from company Y, because thats the only extensions they integrate with/support.
And everyone is so focused on creating these "same" basic extensions, there will be less innovative beauties right?
BTW, something like Nooku Framework looks promising in this area because (as someone already mentioned) it looks like devs using the Framework are collaborating more.
I am actually posting this in the hopes that with me, some of us will consider this and maybe decide to make collaboration/integrations a community wide effort, not just company wide.
Anyone have thought of their own on this?
There is also the following development: every extension developer building the same extensions. There are at least 4 or 5 extension developers building: membership extensions, newsletter extensions, form building extensions and so on. Probably to up sell them to their clients.
Now, the above is a logical business step, and I know choice is good, but its not exactly the best for Joomla!, right? As some already mentioned in the other topic, it woud be better if GPL extension developers focused more on integration and/or collaboration between each other then creating entire portfolio's of extensions the competition also haves.
If every single extension would be innovative, that would be another story. But most extensions are just the same functionality in a different flavour.
And, is it "choice"? Think about this: instead of using membership extension Y from company Y (because thats what I need) and newsletter extensions X from company X, I have to use/buy all extensions from company Y, because thats the only extensions they integrate with/support.
And everyone is so focused on creating these "same" basic extensions, there will be less innovative beauties right?
BTW, something like Nooku Framework looks promising in this area because (as someone already mentioned) it looks like devs using the Framework are collaborating more.
I am actually posting this in the hopes that with me, some of us will consider this and maybe decide to make collaboration/integrations a community wide effort, not just company wide.
Anyone have thought of their own on this?
Tags: GPL, collaboration, commercial, developers
Views: 3
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert Vining on -
I've worked with a few developers over time and what I see is the same with designers... they work alone or within their own tribe. It's normally a control issue. They want to build a better mousetrap with the specs they want.
I've also seen where an extension is in development far longer than the public knows about, while another developer is doing the same thing in private. Just like no 2 templates are built the same way, no 2 modules/plugins/components are built the same way either(although we can point out a few that have been proven to be built EXACTLY the same, but that's another discussion). Sure they may produce the same result, but getting one developer to concede to another's way of thinking is like getting 2 countries to agree to the same laws. It just doesn't happen, or rarely happens.
I believe you have a nice dream, and in a few rare instances collaboration may occur to produce a better end result, but often times ego and pride will get in the way of common sense as it usually does. -
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Permalink Reply by Mitch Pirtle on -
Drupal is actually a good example, but there's a twist - as a 3PD you want your Drupal modules to be included as part of the ecosystem, so you work with others to support standard development practices and tighter integration with the core.
You could say this swings the pendulum the opposite way, so there's less choice but better compatibility.
Another topic altogether is the commercial aspect, looking around I don't see a 3PD commercial ecosystem beyond consulting and development shops. I'm unsure as to how one would create a Drupal module and profit from it from a retail perspective. -
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