Totally understandable. To be honest I thought it's been this way for quite some time. Stackideas has provided world class support, wouldn't want that compromised. Glad to see you guys making security measures to ensure that you're not over taxed with extra support.

Thanks for understanding Josh, appreciate this very much.

What about custom domain ?

eg abc.domain.com

Currently services are restricted per domain as our server is being hit really hard with so many version requests.

Subdomains are also considered as a separate domain but we are trying to see if there is a way to allow an exception for subdomains

Subdomains are also considered as a separate domain but we are trying to see if there is a way to allow an exception for subdomains

This was my only concern regarding the new policy. I plan on having test.site.domain as my main staging site. So either my main support could technically be for the test site or you guys could have a system that adds sub-domains on request. And of course if sub-domains were manually supported by you guys, it could be on test site's only. (the sub-domain requiring a name of "dev" or "test" ) If there was a concern about adding too many sub-domains manually which might create too many support tickets, having a sub-domain name assigner could require it to be limited to a few designated names. It would be extremely unlikely someone would use test.site.domain as an actual production site.

Hi,
I understand to not having support for not listed domain, but this i don't understand :
2. Download languages through our language services
I don't understand that limitation sorry, languages are part of community who make the translation and i don't understand why i can't download the translation from the system.
Hope i can download there manually...

Hello, how to set real domain. As for now is set "mysite.com", but there is no "mysite.com" at all, its always redireciting to "new.mysite.com".

And at "new.mysite.com" there is red mark:
"Your current domain is not listed in our list of supported domains and you will not be able to utilize the versioning services."

So how to change it?

PS I never (or in recent couple years) asked for support for "mysite.com", only for "new.mysite.com".

Hi,
I understand to not having support for not listed domain, but this i don't understand :
2. Download languages through our language services
I don't understand that limitation sorry, languages are part of community who make the translation and i don't understand why i can't download the translation from the system.
Hope i can download there manually...

Thanks for your input Olivier.

1. The service which you use to automate the download isn't contributed by translators. We have a standalone server to host these scripts which is a cost too.

2. We are NOT taking away your rights to download language files. It can still be downloaded manually from https://www.transifex.com/stack-ideas/

3. Translations aren't exactly free. We provide them free subscriptions in exchange for a translation.

We are a strong believer in open source and we fully respect the manifesto of an open source license. These restrictions are purely access to our services which costs money for us to operate. We do not get donations to pay for the bandwidth and servers.

Hello, how to set real domain. As for now is set "mysite.com", but there is no "mysite.com" at all, its always redireciting to "new.mysite.com".

And at "new.mysite.com" there is red mark:
"Your current domain is not listed in our list of supported domains and you will not be able to utilize the versioning services."

So how to change it?

PS I never (or in recent couple years) asked for support for "mysite.com", only for "new.mysite.com".

Sure, just request us to change the domain for you. You can start a new ticket here and post it under the post sales category.

If you want your domain to be hidden, remember to set the ticket to private.

Hi,
I understand to not having support for not listed domain, but this i don't understand :
2. Download languages through our language services
I don't understand that limitation sorry, languages are part of community who make the translation and i don't understand why i can't download the translation from the system.
Hope i can download there manually...

Thanks for your input Olivier.

1. The service which you use to automate the download isn't contributed by translators. We have a standalone server to host these scripts which is a cost too.

2. We are NOT taking away your rights to download language files. It can still be downloaded manually from https://www.transifex.com/stack-ideas/

3. Translations aren't exactly free. We provide them free subscriptions in exchange for a translation.

We are a strong believer in open source and we fully respect the manifesto of an open source license. These restrictions are purely access to our services which costs money for us to operate. We do not get donations to pay for the bandwidth and servers.

Hi,
i understand, it's sad.
I'm not sure it's the right direction, it was the big difference between you and Jomsocial (Additionally to too many bugs for joomsocial).
I could understand the way you take, but you can believe me in finality the result will be different from what you expect.
I really don't share your opinion about translation :
- initially i worked to translate french string on transifex, i don't ask a licence for that, nothing just pleasure to share with open source community.
- the choice to download the translation from your server has been made by you not the customer.
Cheers !
Olivier

Hello Olivier,

Not sure if I understand you here because we are not restricting you access to the language files. The language files are open and download-able at all times. We are not restricting you from accessing the languages.

For instance, you can download language files from https://www.transifex.com/stack-ideas/es2/ and upload it to your site

We are only restricting the access to our service where we have to maintain the server (not free) and maintain the codes (not free). If you are able to write your own scripts, and pay for the servers every month, you can also run your own services. We are not stopping or preventing you from doing that.

same here for sub-domains: i use the main domain for livesite and run my development environment on a subdomain from my main domain.
as example, jreviews have this worked out very well ... there is no problem between live and development site with checking license. i hope you will find also a solution that one licence is working on "http://www.domain.com" and "http://www.*.domain.com".

Hey n00bster,

Yep, we are working on it but do take note that this notice doesn't mean that the extension is not working. It seems like some misunderstanding as some thinks that the entire extension is malfunction. Everything works as usual, you only get that error because your scripts are unable to query our servers to get the latest version details.

Hey guys,

Just for your information, we have just pushed an update to our services to also recognize all your subdomains. You now only need to enter your main domain into your license area.

If you need to change your existing subdomain to your main domain, please do start a new thread on our forums. You can set it to private if you do not want these details to be visible publicly.

Thanks Mark,

I really appreciate that you include subdomain to the licence.

Michel
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

Hi Mark,

I first used a dummy site to get the forum installed. Now I moved this site to the right domain (from http://www.gleisvermarkung.de to http://www.forum.akgsoftware.de/).

What can I do?

Hello Markus,

I have updated your domain to akgsoftware.de and it should be fine now. Any subdomains will work as long as your domain is:

*.akgsoftware.de

If you do decide to switch domains for any reasons at all, let us know and if your account is not flagged as abusing our support, we will be glad to help you change your domain.

We request manual changes simply because this was what happened quite a while back:

A customer has been posting questions on customerA.com domain (About 37 questions to be precise). After 6 months, he changed the domain to customerB.com and posted another dozen of questions for customerB.com. And then he changed the domain to customerC.com

We realize that there is no way for us continue sustaining with these abuse of support. In order for us to be able to continue providing the best support ever in this industry, we need to start finding solutions for everyone. Therefore, we no longer allow you to switch domains by yourself.

Thanks Mark,

I really appreciate that you include subdomain to the licence.

Michel
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

No problem Michel and thank you for being understanding too! On a side note, to those who are still confused, do post your questions here as our end goal is to ensure sustainability for everyone.

Hi,

Does this mean that if I have domain A listed for support, I can't install an updated version on domain B?

Many thanks,

Dave.

You can install on as many domains as you want without restrictions with the full package installer. We are only limiting access to our API from supported domains.

Makes perfect sense - thanks for the quick reply.

You are most welcome

I agree about the support.
And I didn´t know that you also offered support to non-registered licenses.

But what is the reason to also limit ping and auto-update?
Bouth are not really taking ressources.

And how can the warning-messages in the backend be turned off?

All the best, Julian!

Not sure why do you think it's not taking resources? We are restricting these api based services because it is a cost to build and maintain such services. These API layers did not miraculously appear on our servers. We spent a lot of time building, developing and nurturing it.

You cannot disable these warnings currently but since the source code is 100% open, you could do anything you want with it.

Hi Mark,

this features are developed for the customers and licenses connected to a supported domain. You don´t save and ressources by blocking it for the others.

Because of that when you are limiting the version-check and your blog only to "paying customers", I don´t really see a sense in it. Your blog and the note about an outdated version can be used as a marketing.

All the best, Julian!

I don't see why we should allow API requests for people who are not paying for their supported domains. Our license already gives you all the right to install it on as many domains as you want.

If there are more domains that needs to ping our API, it is rightful for you to also purchase the plan accordingly. We have customers who installs our products on more than 1,000 domains. If each of these domains are pinging / downloading then it would cost us money since we are utilizing cpu and bandwidth.

For people who don't pay, they never will pay. Even if they know it is outdated, they will probably just go to a warez site to download the latest version

Totally understandable move, Mark and thank you for being so publicly open about what caused you to do it.

Many people just don't realise that investing in developing and launching a J! extension product is only first step. The really heavy duty stuff costs wise starts when you have to maintain and support that product. 100% behind your decision.

Cheers,

Alex

Thanks for understanding Alex

Hi Alex,
hi Mark,

Many people just don't realise that investing in developing and launching a J! extension product is only first step. The really heavy duty stuff costs wise starts when you have to maintain and support that product.

I totally agree on that, this is why I am voting about raising the prices for ES since a long time.

100% behind your decision.

Well ... not 100% for me. While I agree that the products are worth much more money, the momentary strategy is something that I feel very uncomfortable with. Main features are taken away from ES and then released as a charged plugin. Some months ago I suggested to offer an "all-inclusive-package", but nothing happened.

I am not a fan of a GPL-license, as long as the License seem to not fit to the product anymore. The nature of a GPL license is that software is getting shared. In the case of Stackideas (and many other Joomla-Extension-Providers) they don´t like to see theire extensions shared for free. So why using this license? Because Joomla.org forces them to.

This is a difficult situation, this is right.
However, the point of view for me as a customer is simple:

Usually I take the "big package" and I want to have "everything".
The onliest thing about money is for me: I don´t like it when others pay less for the same product.

How can I deal with that on STackIdeas? It simply does not work.
On a regular basis there are coupons between 15% and 30%.
Mostly they are not there when my licenses need to be extendet.
The ES-Update-Script can´t be stopped anymore after it was triggert.
This leads me in a boring frustration on a regular basis.

I have only two active domains with ES, but I am "playing around" on many different URLs. Some of them on dev-URLs, some of them in the internet, but not live. And on every of this domains I have this boring thing that the ping tries to get loadet. And loadet. And loadet.

And it can´t be turned off. It´s just annoying.

Every time this things happen, my frustration is growing.
And growing.
And growing.

I have a server that can easily handle some 1.000s of pings every minute.
How many ES-Installations must be in the world so the ping-back would slow stackideas server down?

I agree on "It´s about money". And this is good.
But please, make it straight and not in this hidden way.

All the best, Julian!

I understand where you are coming from Julian and I do agree with some of your points above regarding GPL and open source. It's all about contribution economics! The more people pay for a subscription, the more sustainable a business would be and measures like this doesn't need to be taken at all.

People need to start understanding that the entire ecosystem today with most commercial open source products is entirely caused by people who doesn't understand the concept behind open source and GPL.

However, having said that, I honestly think that you really should stop misleading others with non actual facts.

Main features are taken away from ES and then released as a charged plugin

Misleading. We only removed 2 features, url shortener and registration requester and moved it as a plugin. The rationale behind it is simply because it is too expensive to maintain that feature.

The ES-Update-Script can´t be stopped anymore after it was triggert.

Incorrect. You can click the "Exit Installation" to exit the installation screen and you are not forced to update.

Usually I take the "big package" and I want to have "everything".
The onliest thing about money is for me: I don´t like it when others pay less for the same product.

Are you saying that if we require you to pay $999 for an all in one bundle, you would opt for this even if some of the features are not used by you?

I have only two active domains with ES, but I am "playing around" on many different URLs. Some of them on dev-URLs, some of them in the internet, but not live. And on every of this domains I have this boring thing that the ping tries to get loadet. And loadet. And loadet.

Since you mentioned that these are development sites, then your development site could just be a subdomain of your licensed domain. The ping back would still workt.

If you don't like the idea above, then this is where GPL and the open source ideology kicks in. You are free to modify the source code and re-use it on all your sites. You have the privilege to do this. We are not restricting you from modifying the codes.

I have a server that can easily handle some 1.000s of pings every minute.
How many ES-Installations must be in the world so the ping-back would slow stackideas server down?

This is not just about ping back to obtain version details. This service includes:

1. Network installers
Major bottle neck. Each downloads are average about 20mb. We spent months developing this and written more than 25,000 lines of codes.

2. Language downloads
Tons of bandwidth utilized here. Previously, license or non licensed users are allowed to downloads. On average we get nearly 3000 requests each day. On average each zip file is 30kb. We wrote more than 5,000 lines of codes for this.

All of the above incur costs and we are not in a position to have the luxury of providing services for free. As a matter of fact, every single words that are typed and responded by our support members costs us money. None of them are volunteers.

Hi Mark,

thank you for this answer. This seems to me like a real answer that gives us a chance to get a step ahead.
And please ... I am really, really answering totally honest to you. This includes my answers about the pricing.
My answers are not "rethorical".

Main features are taken away from ES and then released as a charged plugin

Misleading. We only removed 2 features, url shortener and registration requester and moved it as a plugin. The rationale behind it is simply because it is too expensive to maintain that feature.

So why is my answer misleading?
Two main-features are removed and then released as charged plugins.

In addition to that, other new plugins that I feel as "main features" are charged extra, like for example the docker.
I personally think, a good navigation is a basic-feature, not an extra-charged feature.

The ES-Update-Script can´t be stopped anymore after it was triggert.

Incorrect. You can click the "Exit Installation" to exit the installation screen and you are not forced to update.

Maybe this has changed now, but my problem was that I couldn´t search for a solution because ... I had no subscription.
And whenever I stopped with "Exit installation", next time I went to the backend of ES the update-script started again. Couldn´t prevent it.

Usually I take the "big package" and I want to have "everything".
The onliest thing about money is for me: I don´t like it when others pay less for the same product.

Are you saying that if we require you to pay $999 for an all in one bundle, you would opt for this even if some of the features are not used by you?

Exactly!
(as long as it is a fair price)

I think, 999 Dollars is a little to much, as it´s more then all your single-licenses are charged when bought singles.
But I would definitely pay for a "big bundle" even if I don´t need all features inside.

Why?
Simple:

In the moment, all few months I have to deal with new features, to think about, to try out stuff and so on.
The docker is a good example: I bought it, I realized it does not work for any of my templates and it has no options, so I don´t use it. But anyway, I bought it. It took me time and discussions and all of that stuff.

When I pay once yearly only one amout of money, and I can play around with every feature inside your products, this feels much better. Only one single buying-descision yearly, and not three on every feature-release.

I have only two active domains with ES, but I am "playing around" on many different URLs. Some of them on dev-URLs, some of them in the internet, but not live. And on every of this domains I have this boring thing that the ping tries to get loadet. And loadet. And loadet.

Since you mentioned that these are development sites, then your development site could just be a subdomain of your licensed domain. The ping back would still workt.

If you don't like the idea above, then this is where GPL and the open source ideology kicks in. You are free to modify the source code and re-use it on all your sites. You have the privilege to do this. We are not restricting you from modifying the codes.

I try to make it as easy as possible. I don´t like "moving" with domains, so I usually have it on a domain that I can activate easily, without moving. I have some hundred domains, so enough space to play around.

Please don´t get me wrong, but it´s very difficult to believe for me that the backend-pings from installations of your software without a subscription would slow down your server. I am not a coder, but shouldn´t every single customer on your website cause much more traffig then some hundred pings?

It feels for me like you are focussing so much on those users without subscription and limiting those pings is nothing more then trying to make theire life complicated. Unfortunatelly, it feels to me like you are making our lifes more complicated.

A quick developement-cycle, an automated update-process only for subscription-holders and support only for subscription-holders, that should be enough. I suggest to simply ignore the rest. Why care about?

1. Network installers
Major bottle neck. Each downloads are average about 20mb. We spent months developing this and written more than 25,000 lines of codes.

I totally (!) agree on this one.
This is good! Without a valid subscription nobody should be able to use the auto-updater.

I only (!) was talking about the version-check. It is anoying.
And if you think about your blog ... why not sending your blog-postings to the non-license-holders?
This are the two annoying points in the backend.

On the auto-updater I TOTALLY AGREE that it NEVER should be accessable to somebody without a valid subscription.

2. Language downloads
Tons of bandwidth utilized here. Previously, license or non licensed users are allowed to downloads. On average we get nearly 3000 requests each day. On average each zip file is 30kb. We wrote more than 5,000 lines of codes for this.

Same here: I TOTALLY AGREE!
And again, if you read my previous posts, I NEVER said that limiting the auto-updater and the langagues should be free for users without a subscription.
I was talking about the version-check (and maybe about the blog).

All of the above incur costs and we are not in a position to have the luxury of providing services for free. As a matter of fact, every single words that are typed and responded by our support members costs us money. None of them are volunteers.

And again here: I agree!
So as a last point about the pricing and the money, let me give you an example for a fair pricing that I would definitely buy.
Your "biggest" Bundle is the Agency-Bundle for $599. LEt´s take this as a starting-point:

- All Extensions
- All Plugins
- All Templates
- Unlimited Domains
- Everything, you publish
- For 12 Months

I would offer this for 999 Dollars, which definitely is a high price.
But I also would also make a really fair price for extend subscription:

$599 when extendent regular while the license is still active
$499 if the extension is a Paypal-subscription that automatically extends every year.

This would be my personal favorite:
I pay once 999 Dollars for everything, and then every year 499 Dollars are auto-paid for extension without the need to think about anything anymore.

Fair?


All the best, Julian!

I understand where you are coming from Julian and I do agree with some of your points above regarding GPL and open source. It's all about contribution economics! The more people pay for a subscription, the more sustainable a business would be and measures like this doesn't need to be taken at all.

I think it´s not that simple.
GPL and Open Source is not about shared costs equally to everybody.
It is much more about lots of people contributing "something". This also means, I pay for stuff I don´t need. And others use it, even if they can´t afford it.

People need to start understanding that the entire ecosystem today with most commercial open source products is entirely caused by people who doesn't understand the concept behind open source and GPL.

I am not sure if I understood it.
It seems weired to me if you as a company develope open-source-scripts but then again are not happy if as many people as possible are using it.
You are obviously not liking it when your code is shared:

I have shared your files to free download sites, why do you revoke my license?
By all means, you have every single right to redistribute the PHP portion of the codes. We are not taking your rights away but you have however violated our terms of use, and licensing as outlined on the following links:

It feels for me like this kind of license and your interest as a company are conflicting.
You are selling your products with this license, but you are trying to limit your customers to not do what the license allows.

For me as a customer this feels weired.
But however, I think nobody of the extension-providers for Joomla can afford to sell his product with other licensing then GPL.

All the best, Julian!

What I am referring to is the contribution economics to pay for a subscription. We are providing services and solutions for people and if you like the services and solutions, then buy it with the terms and conditions that are set on our site.

The more subscribers we have, the lesser we need to charge because we can cover our operations and yet at the same time provide all these great services without restrictions.

The fundamental of a GPL license are:

- Freedom to run the software for any purpose
- Freedom to do anything you want to it
- Freedom to redistribute in any ways that you want (With copyrights intact)

These are not in any parts of GPL licensing:

- If people share or do not share cost.
- If people contribute or not
- If Stack Ideas decides to charge a monthly fee of $9999 or $9.99
- If you purchase it from anyone else at $9.99 or $9999 (As long as copyrights are intact)
- If we decide to restrict access to our api services
- If we decide to restrict access to our support


If you do decide to buy it and share it, you are in NO WAY breaching any of the GPL license. That is your rights and your freedom to redistribute the software.

- Are you violating the GPL?
No. It is your rights to distribute the software and do whatever you want / need with it.

- Is StackIdeas violating the GPL?
No. It is our rights to choose who we want to do business with.

Liking the GPL or not is a different question altogether. We don't hate GPL, we just do not wish to do business with people who exploits the terms which we provide when you purchase a subscription with us.

If you all you want is a custom plan, and you think you could afford it, then write to us at https://crm.stackideas.com and we'll create a custom plan for you that includes everything.

Hi Mark,

about the GPL: Exactly what you explained now seems to me like not the ideal kind of licensing for Extension-Providers.
I guess nearly all (commercial) Joomla-Extension-Providers don´t want theire Software been shared freely in the internet.
This is the weired thing: We CAN share it but if feels like most companies feel cheated when theire code is shared for free.

This is why I wonder if the GPL-license is such a good choice for commercial Joomla-Extensions.

If you all you want is a custom plan, and you think you could afford it, then write to us at https://crm.stackideas.com and we'll create a custom plan for you that includes everything.

The point is:

1. Clear pricing
2. Fair pricing (=not paying more money for the same product then others)

It´s not about a c ustom pricing. A custom pricing would simply make more effort to all of us.
I don´t think I am the onliest person longing for this kind of pricing-change.


But yes, I can easily afford it.
This is why I am so frustrated if you push me into those money-discussions all few months again and again.

All the best, Julian!

In my opinion GPL is ideal and there is nothing really wrong with the license. It is the perception of certain quarters of people who doesn't understand what free software really mean.

It does not necessarily mean you MUST obtain the software for free. The method to obtain the software can be paid but as soon as you download it, that is when your "free"dom kicks in

There are several ways to look at things and there are many different freemium models out there that lives by this rule.

As a matter of fact, it is very ideal in a multi vendor eco-system to be GPL licensed. If you have difference licensing for each of your vendor's software, you will have a nightmare.

As for the pricing, till date you are the only one person that keeps asking us to increase the price and provide everything in a single package. If we execute this, then I am pretty sure many others would not be able to afford it.

Therefore to ensure everyone is happy and comfortable with their wallet, we can accustom plans for people who can afford the entire package and future products as well. If you need a custom package, you can reach our helpdesk and Sylvie will create a custom bundle just for you.

P/S: The custom bundle will not be cheap as we will also calculate the good will on products that we will release in the future as well.

Personally I am perfectly happy with the current business model. In fact I wouldn't want everything of ES to be bundled. However for the sake of considering the folks who want "everything" of ES I have a proposal. Why not have an EasySocial Suite bundle subscription? It could include all the bells and whistles (Docker, Registration Requester, ect). I suppose the installer could install/update those extensions as well. Theoretically the launcher could be exactly the same as the standard ES launcher. The only catch being that Stackideas.com's server validates the type of API key to determine whether to install just the pro version or to install the suite bundle extensions as well. This would make it much easier to maintain the bundle method.

Hi Julian.

You mentioned a few times issues related to GPLed software, its creators, its end users, its distribution etc. This argument is as old as sliced bread and we can argue about every point around it until blue moon but at the end of the day, we all understand, that in order to produce and maintain that GPLed software, its developer has to take care of his business. It's that simple.

I can see you are intelligent and common sense guy and a brilliant, ideal customer with many great ideas. May be you and I at this point should just reciprocate to Mark, take care of him and let him carry on with his business? We all learned by now that he'll be attending to every breath we make and every step we take, replying here to every single point however small.

May be you could further share your ideas with Joomla community at Linkedin.com in the "Official Joomla! User Group" at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/52867? You may also want to consider writing an article for "Joomla! Community Magazine". It boasts decent readership and we have article comments enabled, so I am sure if you present some new angles, good discussions most likely to follow.

Kind Regards,

Alex Smirnov

Hi Mark, how can i deactivate email notification for this thread. I have already deleted this post in my subscriptions but i get still a email message for new posts.
i want that turned off please!
for that i have a suggestion for this email notifications, please add in the emails itself a unsubscribe link.

Hm, the unsubscribe currently only works if you "subscribed" to this thread and not a participant. As long as you are a participant, you will always be notified.

Why? Our forums are constantly replied and most of the time we resolve every single question within 24 hours. However, some customers sends us an e-mail stating that they did not receive e-mail notifications to their question. Only to find out that they unsubscribed from the thread.

And because of that, we enforce participants to get notified. I will see if there is a way to make this optional.

Hm, the unsubscribe currently only works if you "subscribed" to this thread and not a participant. As long as you are a participant, you will always be notified.

Why? Our forums are constantly replied and most of the time we resolve every single question within 24 hours. However, some customers sends us an e-mail stating that they did not receive e-mail notifications to their question. Only to find out that they unsubscribed from the thread.

And because of that, we enforce participants to get notified. I will see if there is a way to make this optional.

that is ok, but when i explicit click on the button "unsubscribe" in the right sidebar i really wont get email about this post any longer

Oh, do you mean you no longer get notifications after clicking unsubscribe?

no, exactly the other why around.
i have already clicked on the button unsubscribe and get regardless email notifications about this thread. i want that this stops, that is all.

Yeah, as mentioned in my previous post, it's not possible unless you explicitly subscribe. If you replied to this post, then you will receive a notification.

I will work on this soon but probably with a warning stating that you will not receive any notifications. Otherwise, when people start unsubscribing, and start complaining that they are not receiving e-mails. It's going to be tricky :|

Otherwise, when people start unsubscribing, and start complaining that they are not receiving e-mails. It's going to be tricky :|

I get how people could theoretically be confused. However it's obvious in those cases they did not pay attention to what unsubscribe means. In addition to this, most forums usually work in this fashion. Hence it will be familiar to most.

Noted, thanks for the input on this Josh. I guess we can enforce it further with a dialog warning the user that they will not get e-mail notifications when we reply.

I have the Developer version of EasyBlog, but I can still only add 5 domains to the subscription - so I cannot update any sites now except for 5, it says I need to add my domain to the supported list...however I can't as I have used up the 5 domains.

Is this Developer version no longer unlimited?

Hello Chris,

There is no longer "Unlimited" domains. We have changed this plan more than a year ago. If you have more than 5 domains, you can contact us at https://crm.stackideas.com and we'll see if we can draft an enterprise plan for you.

Let us know how many site support that you need currently.

Hello Chris,

There is no longer "Unlimited" domains. We have changed this plan more than a year ago. If you have more than 5 domains, you can contact us at https://crm.stackideas.com and we'll see if we can draft an enterprise plan for you.

Let us know how many site support that you need currently.

I've not used support too much really, it was more when I tried to update a website that wasn't on the list of 5 domains, it said I was unable to due to provisioning and that I had to add the domain to my account.

I presume I still have unlimited installations, but does this change mean I can no longer automatically update all installations, just the ones I have listed on the domain panel?

Hello Chris,

There are no restrictions to the number of sites you can install. You are still able to install it on as many domains as you want using the full package.

Only the 5 domains listed in your license is allowed to perform the following:

1. Installations via Launcher (quick updates)
2. API services to receive the latest versions
3. Access to the languages
4. Access to our support

Hello Chris,

There are no restrictions to the number of sites you can install. You are still able to install it on as many domains as you want using the full package.

Only the 5 domains listed in your license is allowed to perform the following:

1. Installations via Launcher (quick updates)
2. API services to receive the latest versions
3. Access to the languages
4. Access to our support

The 5 domain limit for support I can understand, but blocking access to the auto-update process and forcing us to use a manual update process? That part is absolutely backwards, a big step towards how Joomla used to be and is really off-putting...

I am really not impressed with the removal of the update route, it was such a big benefit of EasyBlog for me. I upgraded recently to the Developers platform to gain more of the benefits, I probably wouldn't have bothered if I knew change was coming.

I use a few other extensions regularly, and all let me auto-update...

Hello Chris,

We are not restricting you on the number of installations that can be performed. You can download the full installation package and it would still be able to install just fine.

We are enforcing this on our services in order to protect ourselves from people who have been abusing their subscriptions and people who are making profits out of these as well.

Hello Chris,

We are not restricting you on the number of installations that can be performed. You can download the full installation package and it would still be able to install just fine.

We are enforcing this on our services in order to protect ourselves from people who have been abusing their subscriptions and people who are making profits out of these as well.

Sorry, removing the auto-update route from all but the 5 domains is a bad decision. Yesterday I tried to do a manual update on one site with the full package and it failed, the file size was too large at over 20MBytes. I had to unzip and upload to the tmp folder to get it to work.

That is not acceptable as a process.

I appreciate limiting support, but limiting the update process is a really poor decision and I will be looking at alternative options now, as I do not want to have to use manual updates on the majority of my websites.

Based on all other extensions I use with similar 'Developer' plans that I subscribe to, you are alone in your decision on the update process limitations.

You have a good point on the developer plan note. I will discuss with the team for cusotmers who are subscribed to the developer / agency plan on having a real unlimited "auto updater" policy.

At the mean time, could you please write to us at https://crm.stackideas.com I would like to get more details from you regarding the number of sites that would utilize these services and also would try to come up with an exception for your account until we come up with a new fair-use policy this week.

You have a good point on the developer plan note. I will discuss with the team for cusotmers who are subscribed to the developer / agency plan on having a real unlimited "auto updater" policy.
At the mean time, could you please write to us at https://crm.stackideas.com I would like to get more details from you regarding the number of sites that would utilize these services and also would try to come up with an exception for your account until we come up with a new fair-use policy this week.

I'm interested by the solution about developer / agency plan real unlimited auto updater system, i've got the same problem this morning about the limitation of file size import, but i used the url import perform the upgrade.
I completly understand the change but my request is to change the auto updater policy please.
In the same way i usually use watchful system to make the upgrade and i think it could be great to implement it.
Have a nice weekend !
Olivier

Thanks for the input on this Olivier.

Hey guys,

After receiving numerous constructive feedback on developer's contract, we will now lift the restrictions on accounts that has developer contracts. In other words, customers with a developer / agency contract can now:

1. Query for latest versions (no restrictions to your domain)

2. Automatically update using Joomla's updater (no restrictions to your domain)

3. Update using launcher (no restrictions to your domain)

The lifting of such restrictions will be based on fair use policy and if you have more than 100 sites from a single account, we will have to request you to upgrade to a bigger plan.

Thanks again for your input and I greatly appreciate this. An official blog post will be out soon to clarify all these confusions.

Please share your thoughts with me as I am keen to listen to your opinion.

Hey guys,

After receiving numerous constructive feedback on developer's contract, we will now lift the restrictions on accounts that has developer contracts. In other words, customers with a developer / agency contract can now:

1. Query for latest versions (no restrictions to your domain)

2. Automatically update using Joomla's updater (no restrictions to your domain)

3. Update using launcher (no restrictions to your domain)

The lifting of such restrictions will be based on fair use policy and if you have more than 100 sites from a single account, we will have to request you to upgrade to a bigger plan.

Thanks again for your input and I greatly appreciate this. An official blog post will be out soon to clarify all these confusions.

Please share your thoughts with me as I am keen to listen to your opinion.

wow, it's really a great new Thanks !

You are most welcome Olivier.

You are most welcome

Could you please point me to instructions on updating EB and K without the launcher please? I can't seem to get it to work,

Thanks!

All you need to do is to upload the full package and proceed with the installation. Choose install from directory in the setup screen and you are good to go.

Anyway this shouldn't be a support thread. I will lock this thread since it is deviating from it's original purpose.

Will post an official blog post soon about this guys. Thanks again everyone!