Hi ! On 05/04/13 21:43, Chris Pelon wrote: > Hi All > > I run a small business IT services company in the US and we have just started > to play with the SME 8 software. So far it seems like a very nice project, > and it would be only natural for us to help improve it. >
Excellent news :-) > I just read John's future of SME server post and I am intrigued. I have a > few questions/comments. > > > 1. Do we have any idea how many users of SME there are? Number of > downloads per month? Traffic on contribs.org<http://contribs.org/> website? Not specifically as Smolt is now defunct. If you check the archives (worth a good read to catch up on history) someone has advised rough numbers but I can't remember. > 2. I would have to agree that the marketing message of SME needs work. > The current site somewhat works for technical information but does a horrible > job explaining what the server can do for small businesses. Yup - we know this and there are already plans a foot to revamp things somewhat. We will be posting some proposals on this in the near future > 3. In my opinion, the primary competitor to SME is Microsoft Windows Small > Business Server. Microsoft has announced that they will be discontinuing SBS > as a product. This will create a great opportunity for SME as many small > businesses will be searching for a SBS replacement. Yup, a lot of agree. But first we need a slightly more modern platform to build the apps, hence the push for a v9. Hope you can help..... > 4. Has the idea of paid commercial support been explored. I for one would > be interested in offering this. This, and other commercial ideas, had a chequered past I believe. However, we realise that we need to revisit this, and other ideas to see how in the first instance we can raise more revenue for SME. Again, there are a number of us looking at this and hope to make some proposals for discussion in the near future. We need to work more closely with integrators etc. and we need to explore the best ways to do it, but right now, working on v9 is our top priority at this moment in time. If we are not careful we will discuss ideas to death and never get v9 finished..... > > I have subscribed to the mailing list and hope to add/contribute to the > project as needed/asked. > > Let me know how I can help. > Excellent. Have you joined the devs list too ? Primary requirement is testing, verifying and fixing v9 to get it out the door as soon as we can. The sooner that happens, the sooner we can start to play with some new toys :-) For background please read some of the list archives and Wiki. For SME development please start here : http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server_9.0_Development http://wiki.contribs.org/Category:SME9-Development Some of the pages are a little messy due to the pace of development and will be revised as we go. If you have specific questions about development then please post on the devs list. You can also catch a number of us on IRC at freenode #SME_Server - we can certainly point you in the right direction and help. We'll be pleased to have you on board. B. Rgds John _______________________________________________ Discussion about project organisation and overall direction To unsubscribe, e-mail [email protected] Searchable archive at http://lists.contribs.org/mailman/public/discussion/
