Official Statement Regarding Pligg.com negotiations

[dollars5]

kB works for a company that develops on .NET platform - hez now a fulltime .NET programmer - hence the avatar.

Hiring a management team is a good idea - hopefully it gets considered too. Thanks for the suggestions.

[chuckroast]

Originally Posted by davemackey

kbeeveer - I find it somewhat humorous that your avatar is for Microsoft .NET when Pligg is a PHP based platform. Care to explain the meaning between this?
.

KB sold his soul to the devil and now has to work with ASP everyday

[kbeeveer46]

[quote=davemackey;38247]kbeeveer - I find it somewhat humorous that your avatar is for Microsoft .NET when Pligg is a PHP based platform. Care to explain the meaning between this?[quote]
As several people have explained, I'm a full-time .NET programmer.

[davemackey]

Wow. So Pligg isn't a full-time job? That's crazy. How do you do that?
David.

[simranz]

Again guys: Open Source != Cost free software. Many seem to get confused over there. And unless you see the word FREEWARE on any software product, it can be charged, but in this case the Pligg developers were kind enough to let every one have a free ride

After so many years no one is confused .... we mean opensource and free of cost ... PHP is just that ... is not it ? How much has pligg donated to PHP ? And how does PHP manages itself with 10x crowd and still not get sold.

DONT SELL !! THERE ARE WAYS LIKE PHP.NET OR DRUPAL HAS ADDED !


As Hitchiker [hitchhiker.blogsome.com] has already said , I just quote :

- Who is actually selling these “Pligg related assets” ?
- Whose pocket is this going to?
- Does the contributors to the open source project deserve to get some of that cash?
- How about the contributors to the forum?
- Can “Pligg” the non-profit org sue the “owner” of Pligg.com for trademark infringement in the future?
- Does the new “owner” get to keep the donations coming to the site? (see the donate link on Pligg.com)
- Will the contributing community sit idlely while this new “owner” mucks with Pligg.com and try to make an extra buck? (more ads? consulting services? commercial version?)
- Will there be a showdown between those that made off with the dough and those who did not?
- Is this even “legally” possible? (ie sure those assets are “sellable” but can it be debundled? )
- How is this different than some user from Digg selling his or her account?
- Can the community block the sell? Esp with regard to the source forge account? (just like Digg can block a sell of an username)

In the end, the bigger question is. . . what is an open source community really worth? Who (which individual) has the right to sell an opensource community? If this becomes popular, one day, will Linus sell his “position” as the ultimate arbiter of Linux releases to Novell? Why wouldn’t someone like MSFT go out and just “buy up” an open source community to either control it or to kill it through random muddling thus forcing the code and community to splinter and fork?

Any answers ?

[dollars5]

Selling on OSS is not new, mySQL did it (they are sold to AB - but still a poineer in the databases) - do a simple search on "Oracle purchase OSS" to see how many OSS projects have been purchased by Oracle - Oracle purchase OSS - Google Search

Infact such sales have only made OSS even better, I really wonder was mySQl as popular as now before they sold to AB

No worries on the sale part - and if the core contributors of the OSS agree (don't mind of the occasional contributors [they have very little interest in the software] or template creators [they do it to full their pockets] - know why WP has so many free templates - only when someone gives a sample - people will take a professional service from them )

In this case the core contributors are already listed at Pligg Content Management System - all members do code contribution, bug-fixing, modules development, help in forums, etc (also do custom work based on Pligg - like we do ) - and there is no second opinion among us - so there seems no problems for other bloggers out there to worry a lot....

[humaneasy]

Originally Posted by kbeeveer46

There will be a transferring of SVN to the potential bidder.

This news will make many people starting moving out of Pligg.
Who, in its sane mind, would start a business model based on a software that is free but as no certainty of upgrade in the same model?

Originally Posted by kbeeveer46

They would also decide if they wanted to conitue releasing the code under the Pligg name.

Another axe chop in the project.

Originally Posted by kbeeveer46

So what does this mean to you, the "Pligger"? Right now, not much, as we've just open the channels up for negotiation. Any transfer of Pligg ownership could take months.

What does this interest us at all?
What interest us is the guarantee that it will be remaining AGPL and available.

If you really wanted to code only and leave the the admin stuff behind why not hiring a fundraiser manager / community manager? It will be wisier in all aspects... if you wan't to keep this project in your hands, of course.

Think about it.

Best and thanks for this project and all the time you spent with it

Lopo

[simranz]

@dollars5

that hardly answered any questions, php and linux have not been sold out
plus many more questions - no answers.

@humaneasy
the decision was not discussed with community ( like drupal did on issues of sponsorship etc ) - its a decision that has been taken and it does not seem
it will be changed.

May be time forward to look to phpdug, while they develop it into fuller and better version, or
others which may come up with the right spirit

[chuckroast]

simranz

I fail to see why the creators of the this software would need to consult you, "the community" about internal business affairs. That's ridiculous.
Pligg is not required to discuss it's personal business with you or anyone else here.

Unfortunately most of the replies to this thread are by people that have absolutely no clue whats going on behind the scenes at Pligg.

[simranz]

Thanks, Chuckroast.

It may be perfectly alright to you, while it may be rude and inexplicable to many

Why ? Simply because the "community" took pligg to where it is, by years
of beta testing, feedbacks, buliding sites etc etc so that it is now in a state to enjoy some "internal business"

And hitchikers questions are yet unanswered

Cheers !