32 replies to this topic

[steveg1963]

Any idea when the rest of MyRouncube will be up?

[Volnhar]

Yes, starting to get concerned. I ended updating to RC 1.1.2 without the myroundcube updates.

[grecuc]

Hello,

MyRoundcube is still down.
When I connect to the site I see a countdown that says 0s reamining and then I get redirected to the forum.
If I want to use the "Plugin managager" in roundcube it displays an warning "The remote server did not respond to a connection attempt."
This is now hapening for a few days.
Any ideas when the service will be resumed?

Best regards.

[anuschka]

Hello,

If I want to use the "plugin manger" in roundcube it displays "The remote server did not respond to a connection attempt."

Any ideas when the service will be resumed?

Best regards,
Ana

[redit_uk]

Agreed, starting to wonder what is going on now.
I've been putting off adding some more plugins to my setup as I'm already running RoundCube 1.1.2
Some communication for that admins would be nice - even just a hello we are still here working

[eventik]

Well, countdown on the main page of myroundcube.com originally said '3 days remaining' when I first noticed myrc services were down. Since that time many days already passed...
So in total myrc website and services are down for a week at least. And no word from the developers...

Besides, even if some services are down for some catastrofic technical reason, why all support docs and description for plugins also disappeared? It looks like you want us beleive there were no plugins ever here.

This is definetely something beyond normal... Developers, have you closed your business and disappeared with all my credits? Please make clear your point at least. Thank you.

[redit_uk]

@eventik, well said - even the Twitter account has not been updated - https://twitter.com/myroundcube

How long does it take to post something on twitter to say we are still working on this and its taking longer than we thought?

[eventik]

@redit_uk,

true,
I also noticed twitter silence. It suggests the problem is not purely technical.

[Yoni]

Hi all,

First, let me thank you for your posts. They help beyond your comprehension at this point; it is pleasant to know that there are real people who care for the work we've done all along; thank you! Indeed, our site is still in maintenance mode and we hope to bring it back soon enough; we will. I know you are wondering why the service hasn't been restored and you certainly deserve to know because you've supported our work, shared feedback and help us provide better functionality for several users all over.

There are different things we must address to bring the site and services back online, starting with the distribution of plugins under GPL terms. I can go off on this topic but I'll keep it simple; we are doing it wrong! Even though your support is truly appreciated and it has been the engine to help us go, we are failing to put what matters the most in the front-line; and that's the benefit of having everyone enjoying plugins in a more open way. I've been personally touched with different posts and comments in the past and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the goods of free software and open source if it wasn't because others put as much efforts into products that I use on daily basis; I'm a GNU/Linux user. Anyways, back to topic because this isn't about me but about plugins. Our project leader has decided not to continue developing plugins. Roundcube is moving away from PHP. Roundcube NEXT will be a web application that isn't PHP based anymore and therefore plugins development will be discontinued at some point. While I can say that it will take a while for Roundcube NEXT to be here, it is definitely coming.

We want plugins to be distributed under GPL so that anyone can get them at no cost. Also, it is the best way to improve what's already there because current plugins will not actively enjoy from maintenance at least for now; that's why the service was put in maintenance mode. In the last few days services have been moved to smaller servers to reduce the cost of its operation so they can be more affordable. Those who contacted me via email do know about this. If you didn't receive a response to your email is because it wasn't specifically related to myroundcube, sorry. As you can imagine, we receive lots of daily emails asking for suggestions and advice on services and deployments that are not related to what we do (plugins).

[ktrhn]

Why couldn't you wait for this after making current plugins work with 1.1.2? You now have a bunch of pissed people with half working roundcube environments (1.1.2 is a security release and so an update can not wait) and no access to plugin downloads and docs. The lack of communications skills of the whole myroundcube team really disturbs me. I guess most myroundcube users are not using the plugins just for fun but in a production environment, so you could easily just double the price, or even restructure the way you sell your plugins in a more business friendly model (the whole myroundcube site does/did not make a very trustful appearance, but there aren't many choices when using roundcube). Roundcube Next ist far away, if it even happens. Development on roundcube 1.x is still ongoing, so either you didn't make enough money out of selling plugins or selling the plugins was illegal in the first place, as your post suggests.

[ktrhn]

Ah...and I forgot: If you don't sell anymore you should pay all remaining credits back.

[Yoni]

ktrhn, it is fine if you want to draw your own conclusions but it helps not to blow things out of proportions though. If there are people with half working installations it is not the result of Plugin Manager Center not being accessible at this time. The latest stable release provides plugins for Roundcube 1.1.1 which is the active developed branch. Upgrades were offered since RC 0.8 between. It is not a matter of waiting for a release that we are not developing for in the first place. The lack of communication has been based on being busy moving services as needed and certainly not having this type of discussion at least for now. As you just showed, you've already jumped into conclusions while I'm trying to bring plugins freely available for everyone and taking the burden of the service that will run on my own expenses. Thank you?
There is currently no access to the website but the documentation is on every plugin you have downloaded (config.inc.php.dist file contains the same information/comments as that in the website). Supporters are not using plugins just for fun, that's true; as it is also true that our plugins are working for Roundcube 1.1.1... I also have production environments where the same plugins are running. We are heading towards making plugins freely available and you are saying we could double the price; that isn't the intention. The business model, to quote your words, was fair enough as it was to the point that a single download can serve as many users as a server is capable of handling. Our site appearance is not a marketing tool but an additional place where to read about plugins and what they offer; you can suggest that the design isn't the best in your opinion but there isn't much more to it. I'm glad you mentioned that there isn't too many choices for Roundcube because that's exactly why offering free plugins for everyone makes sense; sharing is caring! Not making enough money providing paid downloads is not our main concern. As you can imagine, we do not make our living out of few paid plugins downloads. All of you who supported our work by purchasing downloads contributed in the development as well as in covering the costs of running the services. Honestly, as long as it was enough to cover these expenses and to keep development motivated it was good enough. Nowhere in my post I suggested that selling plugins downloads is illegal not I described discontent because that doesn't make much money; you put those words somewhere. Plugins will not be offered as paid downloads but free downloads instead; irrespective if you want to receive a refund for your available credits because you will be able to get these plugins for free from now on, please contact me at dev-team@ and I will follow up with you. What my post mentions is that plugins should be more accessible to everyone and to do so releasing them under GPL is the best option.

So, if you scroll up and read again you will notice that the plans are to release them under GPL to make those 'few plugins choices' that you pointed out more accessible to everyone. Also, I mentioned I moved the services to smaller boxes that I can afford to pay for, because once all GPL plugins are released (almost all if not all) services cost will continue to come out of my own pocket. The intentions are not about making money but about making it possible for more users to have more plugins choices for roundcube. One thing is clear, no matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. I'm sorry for the lack of communication (our bad) and I really want to thank you for having supported our work. In the same way, I cannot force a developer to continue development if the person has decided otherwise. PHP plugins for Roundcube are not going away tomorrow and you will still be able to get them as a free download; oh and improve them and share them back if you decide so.

[Volnhar]

Hi Yoni,

Thanks for the update. I've been a user of myroundcube for more years that I can remember and in the past helped with testing fixes.

Hope it all works out and happy to provide assistance with testing in the future if needed. Not really a PHP developer but can generally find my way around code etc.

I do agree that a little more information or some site updates would have reduced the feeling of concern. I guess most of us rely on roundcube and to bring it up to a good user experience it really needs the added features that the myroundcube plugins provide.

[macmanx]

Hi Yoni

I would also thank you for the update, hopeffuly services will go online soon.

When I bought credits I took the 100 Credit option, even I didn't have plans to use them all. This was my way to support the development of this plugins....

[martin.bocek]

Thanks for the update. I hope at least plugin documentation will be available soon.

[nameweb]

I for one think that pricing of these plug-ins was always more than reasonable and I'm happy to have made the small contribution that I made when buying credit, even though I actually only bought credit a couple weeks ago and I am waiting for the 1.1.2 release before taking them into production.

Obviously, I do hope that the needed upgrade will be released any time soon now. Any timing on this would be helpful.

[redit_uk]

@Yoni, thank you for the update.
If you are looking to release all the plugins under GPL, I'm guessing that the licencing for currently paid for modules running under RC1.x will remain under their current licence agreement as this is what us as a user has agreed to. Therefore unless you are going to get everyone to uninstall the current plugins and install new ones I should think that you will need to continue making the already purchased plugins available to reinstall. I'm no lawer but it might be worth checking.
Anyhow, good luck with it all.

[eventik]

Hi Yoni,

thank you for the update.
As far as I understand the plan is to release all current myrc plugins under GPL, move to a cheaper hosting, stop the development and forget. There will be no 1.1.2-compatible plugin update, nor any further updates, right? Because, RC Next is on the horizon, no way to force the PHP developer to work if he doesn't want, etc.?
If I'm right then there is no much sense in leaving these plugins in my system, regardless GPL or non-GPL they are. They just prevent me from updating RC and make all my installation obsolete.

Your plugins helped me a lot. But I cannot afford staying with particular RC version forever. Now I have to make a clear list of myrc plugins that rely on patching of core RC files and remove those plugins from my installation, then install RC update. For that, access to myrc documentation is needed asap. Thank you.

[nameweb]

Please confirm if you expext to still release a 1.1.2 version any time soon or not. I'm holding back releason RC to our clients simply because I would prefer to release it with the calendar instantly in it. But if there won't be a release of a 1.1.2 version any time (very soon), then I would prefer to already at least release the default RC without plug-in.

[texxasrulez]

I have a few bucks left on my account that I am not worried about myself. I donate mine to the cause. I use several open source solutions on my server, and while I make no money myself because of costs to host things, I understand, and donate each and every year to every app I use. I will gladly wait for myroundcube services to be back up and use free. Stick a link somewhere to click and donate and I will click it at least once a year to give what I can. I am a poor boy from Texas .... Good luck and cannot wait to see the new plugin manager ....