debuggable

Adam and Wynn interviewed me for the latest episode of the changelog:

Episode 0.2.0 - Node.js with Felix Geisendörfer

For those interested in node.js (frameworks, unit testing, etc.) this should be a nice introduction to the current status of the project and ecosystem.

--fg

Update: Yes, this of course was an April fools joke : )

This is a decision that has not been easy for us. Over the years, Tim and I build our reputation and company on the basis of open source. For a long time we worked on CakePHP, and more recently I became very involved with node.js.

Generally, open source has been very good to us. We learned a lot about programming, collaborated with great people and, thanks to our clients, made payroll consistently.

But sometimes, even if things are good, you have to evaluate if they are aligned with your true goals. And today, we finally decided they are not. Our goals and the nature of open source are in fundamental conflict.

What changed? Well, when we initially started debuggable, our goal was to build commercial web applications and make a living from that. But it turns out, that is actually really hard.

37signals may wash your head about getting real until it comes off, but the truth is:

You will not build a product like basecamp with a limit of 10h / week. And you certainly will not, let me stress that, develop an open source technology like Ruby on Rails along the way, which will then help you promote your product(s). 37signals either got insanely lucky, or they are glorifying their story after the fact. It is probably both.

This leads back to our decision. We have concluded, that in order to reach our goals for 2010, we need more time. It is not really possible to cut on client work, since we've got bills to pay. So instead, we will drastically cut on our open source involvement.

Beginning today, we will only work on open source, if we actually really need a critical bug fixed, and the maintainer of the project refuses to fix it for us. We will only send those bug fixes upstream, if the patches are big enough so it would be more difficult for us to maintain them privately.

We estimate that this will free us 20 hours / week. Those hours, for now, will be used to finally get transloadit.com out of the testing phase. At the same time, we are evaluating a more radical technology change. We recently developed our first native iPhone application for a client, and it is a truly great plattform. Also the iPad seems like a great opportunity we shouldn't miss. So I wouldn't be surprised if Tim and I would be moving to the App Store ecosystem at some point.

So fare well, open source community. We are sorry we can longer be a part. Our website will be updated to reflect our new philosophy by tomorrow.

-- Felix & Tim

Update: Andy Wenk posted a very nice summary of the event.

Last night Tim and I took a little road trip to Hamburg. I had no idea the Reeperbahn looked like Las Vegas : ).

Anyway, our actual destination was the first Hamburg JS meetup where Malte Ubl invited me to speak about node.js. The turnout was fantastic, and thanks to SinnerSchrader's hosting of the event, there was plenty of pizza, beer and an absolutely fantastic location.

I've also updated my previous node.js talk, all the examples should now be 0.1.30+ compatible, and the section about "The Future" of node has a more recent and interesting list of things that are on the radar:

You can also download the slides as PDF (164 kb).

--fg

After our previous post, we are very happy to announce our formal apology to the CakeDC and the Cake Software Foundation.

After further discussions with the CSF we have come to understand why the CSF needs to have an agreement with the venue, this is required to free the funds for making this transaction since the CSF would be legally responsible for the payment. Larry E. Masters has helped us to work out all misunderstandings in that regard, and we would also like to formally apologize to him.

Beyond that, we are also apologizing to the CakePHP community, for jumping the gun early, and having caused damage to the image of the project. This was not our intention, and we only did that, as a last resort to see the venue paid and defending our business from harm.

As previously announced, we are still planning on being valuable members to the community, releasing plugins & components as open source.

We are grateful to all those who donated, and will reimburse everybody completely once the venue has been paid in full, or in no longer than 60 days from the time of your donation, whichever comes first. We will take down the pledgie site also. Until then we will continue to pay the venue 500 EUR / month, so that any eventual delays will not be to their disadvantage. We also had a misunderstanding with the agreement Larry E. Masters had made to personally cover the 500 EUR / month while the CSF was trying to clear up the situation with the 501(c)(3) status. He also clarified, that the CSF is an independent entity from the CakeDC with its own board of directors which currently hold these positions temporarily and that a new board will be in place when all of this legal stuff is completed.

Please, do not let any of this reflect on your opinion about the framework. Every community has their difficult moments, and the CakePHP community has just shown how strong it is, and that all parties are willing to cooperate for its prosperous future without leaving any hard feelings behind.

Sincerely Yours,

Felix Geisendörfer, Director
Tim Koschützki, Director

Latest Update: The whole situation has been resolved, please read our apology to the CSF and CakeDC.

We are truly thankful. Since putting up our post last night, people have already donated 2,075.00 EUR. There were almost 30 donators, some of them donating as much 600 EUR, with others who have pledged continuing support over the next months.

We cannot thank everybody enough for this, and all the kind comments. But as a start, here is the list of people who have donated so far, we'll keep it updated. If you want your name to be linked, just email us.

• Garrett Woodworth
• Shawn Stratton
• Phillip Hile
• Aaron Forgue
• Rob Wilkerson
• Clay Loveless
• Gilles Grinfeder
• Jeff Loiselle
• Lars Schenk
• Nathan Abele
• @elventails
• @indiefan
• Yusuke Ando
• @jperras
• Jon Adams
• Jose Diaz-Gonzalez (@savant)
• Dirk Olbertz
• Mark Boas
• Charlie van de Kerkhof
• Lucian Lature
• @leomelzer
• Robert Scherer
• Guillaume Sautereau
• Daniel Hofstetter
• Arne Psczolla
• @pzwiers

Regarding the question: Did we publish this to harm the CakePHP community?

The answer is no, we are sorry if this shines a bad light on the project. We had two motivations to publish this post. For one, we wanted to reach out for help with this bill. However, we also wanted to share our story with the community, giving them the chance to push for improvements of the situation CakePHP is in.

But you don't have to take our word for it. We already have a few new plugins & components lined up for release. This project has a community of great people, and just as they have supported us in this tough moment, we plan to continue supporting them.

Again, thanks to everybody who helped, also those who are not involved with CakePHP at all!

--fg