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From reddit: My company is developing an opensource alternative to WHMCS
I figure that the audience here would be interested in this so ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/cjpjpy/my_company_is_developing_an_opensource/
Comments
The screenshots look promising. But, I hope it doesn't meet the fate of @WHSuite, another nice software but didn't really go that far.
https://github.com/WHSuite
Looks great. But how long the project will last and maintained is the real question here.
Looks good. Hope they could continue this to a mature product.
No less than 2 years before this actually gets some attention for good.
So, the obvious question here is: what's the business model?
Makes me wonder if offering paid support a la Ubuntu would be sustainable especially on the long run. Or a dual-licence release with a gold version similar to the likes of PPSSPP for those who are willing to support the project even further.
I mean, there are definitely sustainable business models for this (that are properly open-source, not open-core). But the track record of commercial companies and open-source projects is pretty damn poor, which is why this is the first question that's on my mind. Do they actually have a viable and ethical business model?
They can provide basic functions for free. They can also provide advanced functions/modules for paid versions, with pricing cheaper than WHMCS.
Where is the magic of WHMCS: a massive, just humongous code base. They have covered all of it:
And this done from 2008 I believe (?).
Now, even to align with this monster would require SpaceX caliber management, funds and motivation.
EZPZ.
No, it's not gonna happen. Unfortunately. First titan must fail, fail really hard (like cPanel) and than on top of the grave you can build something new. Yea, sad.
Is is really on that scale? It's a PHP CRUD app, not something a lone nerd can bang out in a weekend, but seems much less complicated than even cpanel. Compare with the dozens of FOSS databases, compilers, Linux kernel and CLI tools, PHP itself, and everything else that's out there, it seems doable.
Blesta is already a reasonable alternative from what I can tell. There must be other stuff out there too.
Well...
I originally thought that SpaceX was a poorly hidden secret bomb testing company some years ago.
When I was finally told that they are in fact a space agency, my head spun and told myself that the end was rainly nigh.
What panel will this sit on top of? Aren't there open source alternatives they can fork/modify/make better?
I'm still confused how people can be so upset by Oakley's first shots fired using cpanel and not expect the same increases from WHMCS
Plesk and SolusVM. Yes WHMCS may just be a stake via cpanel but it's still a matter to be concerned over.
That's open-core, not open-source. Which was part of my original point.
It soubds easy,but even physically write so much code is time consuming task. Even if you survive code base development, which is very doubtful, there is a whole new layer of complexity waiting for you: marketing.
To gain consumer trust is very hard task, why I should risk with my business by switching to new product?
I may sound very pesimistic, but it's harsh reallity. My optimism like cPanel clientele, just faiding away...
Because you don't like WHM's inevitable price increase, because you want to customize the code yourself, whatever. I've never seen WHM used outside budget hosting. Everyone else has their own system. It's unclear how WHM many features the mentioned alternative actually implements. I've never done run WHM from the host side, but from the user side I don't remember anything in it that I'd consider hard.
Yes companies develop FOSS applications all the time. I'm using Firefox right now, which probably has 100x as much code in it as WHM. Debian probably has 20x as much as Firefox (it includes Firefox as a component). Hosting panels are a niche area but I wonder how much of WHM could be thrown together from existing Drupal modules or Ruby gems without much development.
The challenge is up to you
try it.
My thoughts exactly.