I'm happy that the RubyMotion guys can charge money for what they're doing.
But if you're going to stay closed source, you're asking me to just trust you that important (to me) bugs are going to get fixed fast enough. That is very hard to do.
That is the real value of open source. It's not about the money -- an extra $200 is nothing in a development budget. It's about being able to fix the bugs myself when they matter enough.
... or at least hire someone to fix the bugs for you.
I wonder if there are any closed-source software shops that have a "pays us a premium to fix bug X first" option. Doesn't seem like it would work too well.
I worked for one and it works very well. They build one of the most common electronic medical record systems plus a bunch of associated software. Any large client, in this case a hospital, hospital chain, or large ambulatory clinic, pays a $mm annual fee for the right to call and notify of a breaking bug and get engineers to issue a fix asap.
By that I mean, clients with budgets will opt for enterprise services. That's not necessarily fair, but humans like expensive stuff, especially when it's not their money.
The thing is, engineers who move into SaaS and try to tackle that middle ground tend to be shafted. This is why people like 'patio11 so often recommend aiming for the enterprisey folks - that's where you make a living.
Well, I believe two ways. First, I'm sure the contracts have penalties, plus hospitals have lawyers. Second, when companies spend tens of millions of dollars per year or more, they certainly talk to a bunch of current clients. If word gets around that your company screws customers it will throw a wrench in sales. There aren't that many hospitals, particularly if you view chains like kaiser as a single customer, in the US.
I'm at least annoyed that an LLVM static compiler was hyped up for MacRuby (some code was even available) less than 6 months before RubyMotion became a thing. Always felt fishy to me.
That is $200, then after a year you will have to pay $100 to get updates. That was not cheap, I was hoping that I can continue recieving updates for my initial purchase, since many apps which is payed only once does that.
Comments
I'm happy that the RubyMotion guys can charge money for what they're doing.
But if you're going to stay closed source, you're asking me to just trust you that important (to me) bugs are going to get fixed fast enough. That is very hard to do.
That is the real value of open source. It's not about the money -- an extra $200 is nothing in a development budget. It's about being able to fix the bugs myself when they matter enough.
... or at least hire someone to fix the bugs for you.
I wonder if there are any closed-source software shops that have a "pays us a premium to fix bug X first" option. Doesn't seem like it would work too well.
I worked for one and it works very well. They build one of the most common electronic medical record systems plus a bunch of associated software. Any large client, in this case a hospital, hospital chain, or large ambulatory clinic, pays a $mm annual fee for the right to call and notify of a breaking bug and get engineers to issue a fix asap.
This basically highlights why there's no comfortable middle ground in pricing software.
At a high price, you can get strong service guarantees.
At a zero price, you can use open source and manage the critical service yourself.
At a low but nonzero price, you get neither.
Some of it is client-side.
By that I mean, clients with budgets will opt for enterprise services. That's not necessarily fair, but humans like expensive stuff, especially when it's not their money.
The thing is, engineers who move into SaaS and try to tackle that middle ground tend to be shafted. This is why people like 'patio11 so often recommend aiming for the enterprisey folks - that's where you make a living.
Can you point to the company name? I am checking what is out there (EMRS).
Has it ever led to a pseudo-ransom situation if only a single client is affected by a showstopper bug? If not, how is this mitigated?
Well, I believe two ways. First, I'm sure the contracts have penalties, plus hospitals have lawyers. Second, when companies spend tens of millions of dollars per year or more, they certainly talk to a bunch of current clients. If word gets around that your company screws customers it will throw a wrench in sales. There aren't that many hospitals, particularly if you view chains like kaiser as a single customer, in the US.
I'm at least annoyed that an LLVM static compiler was hyped up for MacRuby (some code was even available) less than 6 months before RubyMotion became a thing. Always felt fishy to me.
That is $200, then after a year you will have to pay $100 to get updates. That was not cheap, I was hoping that I can continue recieving updates for my initial purchase, since many apps which is payed only once does that.