Hi everyone, sorry for my silence on the issue, thus far. It's not so much that I want to open every service that I use, or that I >> refuse to use proprietary services... Rather, if I have a choice between >> a fully-featured open source service and a prettier/trendier service >> with no "killer app" features that differentiate it, I will choose the >> FOSS project. I don't see why Get Satisfaction is so much better than >> the open source forum software Miro was using before, or why we couldn't >> build something as good as Get Satisfaction. I think that Identi.ca has >> stated loud and clear that we can build open source, decentralized >> projects that have the capability of someday trouncing proprietary >> services like Twitter. I was using Twitter on and off but I am now an >> Identi.ca convert, and I hope that everyone will join me not only on >> Identi.ca but on future open source, decentralized services sure to >> eventually follow. > > Nelson,
We tried using both PHPBB and Vanilla (both FOSS), and while GS doesn't have a single "killer feature" that makes it a superior customer support platform, it's all around better for accomplishing our customer support goals. It has more active searching and tagging, a better system for categorizing questions and ideas, and it's *far* easier to see where lots of people are experiencing the same issue (or love the same idea or feature). I am all in favor of an open source competitor that can match or beat this feature-set, but after having tried a few of them I can safely say they didn't in this particular case. I left a more official response here: http://www.getmiro.com/blog/2008/07/new-forums/#comment-49463 Best, Dean Disclaimer: in case anyone isn't aware, I'm an employee of the Participatory Culture Foundation, developers of Miro > >> >> I am not troubled by the existence of Get Satisfaction, or its use, but >> by the abandonment of open source options for it. People should be >> switching the other way! It is time to examine why open source projects >> are abandoning open source support forums, replicate Get Satisfaction's >> features in an open+decentralized model, and then if they cannot keep up >> with the open/decentralized version, leave them in the dust. >> >> Peace, >> ~Nelson~ >> >> Fred Benenson wrote: >> > Yeah, I'm not totally convinced of the need to open EVERY service that I >> > use. I think data portability is really the paramount issue, an issue GS >> > doesn't seem that likely to abuse -- I suppose a "database" of questions >> and >> > answers could be downloadable in a format to be used in other contexts, >> but >> > its just text. >> > >> > And I'm wary of turning SFC into a software freedom project first and a >> > functional organization that responds to feedback via a cool service >> like >> > GS, second. >> > >> > F >> > >> > >> > On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 6:35 AM, Stephen Paul Weber < >> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > >> > >> >>> Recently a number of open source projects including the Mozilla >> >>> Foundation, Songbird, and Miro have switched to using a customer >> support >> >>> service called Get Satisfaction. Get Satisfaction's core code is >> >>> largely proprietary software. >> >>> >> >>> How much of a problem is it for open source projects to use a >> >>> proprietary customer support system? >> >>> >> >> Beyond the idealist concept that all software should be opensource, >> >> how is this an issue at all? GS is a good service that does its job >> >> well and has a great team behind it. I see no reason not to support >> >> their service. Very few web services are open source - we applaud >> >> those that are, but we don't boycott those that aren't. >> >> >> >> -- >> >> - Stephen Paul Weber (Singpolyma) >> >> >> >> Web: http://singpolyma.net/ >> >> Twitter: http://twitter.com/singpolyma >> >> IM: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Discuss mailing list >> >> [email protected] >> >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> >> >> >> >> > >> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Discuss mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
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