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Comment by esskay

5 days ago

Feels like Trello alternatives are the next ToDo list. There's so many of them these days that I struggle to grasp why anyone thinks launching an opensource one and thinking they can turn a profit with a cloud version is ever going to work.

In all likelihood the project will be abandoned in 6 months and the site offline in 12.

22 comments

esskay

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dabeeeenster  5 days ago

The market for an on-premise, developer maintained solution is way bigger for a product like this than the cloud version.

We made the exact same, incorrect assumption with https://github.com/Flagsmith/flagsmith several years ago. The market for data sensitive on-premise delpoyments is a LOT bigger than most people would imagine.

For Flagsmith, the majority of our revenue comes from on-premise deployments.

  • libraryatnight  5 days ago

    "The market for an on-premise, developer maintained solution..."

    This made me laugh because at work we've been joking, "We've finished moving to the cloud! What now? We must get out of the cloud!"

  • ensemblehq  5 days ago

    Wholeheartedly agree. On-prem is still a major market to play in and have worked on many consulting engagements architecting software that plays nicely. Just curious - how do you guys deploy Flagsmith on-prem? I'm still trying to find a nice deployment pattern that aligns well with both client and vendor.

    • PunchyHamster  5 days ago

      From one deploying stuff on prem:

      Absolute best scenario is single binary with embedded static files (Go is very good at that) that just takes config and/or CLI options (preferably both if it isn't too complex of a config) and works. Or static file that just needs to be pointed at database with certain version

      It can be easily run on VM, it can be easily made with container, it can be easily made into package, or ran in cloud with cloud DB service. All those options are a plus, but the fact it is a single binary makes it easier to make a package or container out of it and deliver that to customers.

      Second best is .deb package that deploys a single service or a container that just exposes a port and that's it.

      DB-wise there is a temptation to provide a bunch of containers that have all of app's dependencies (DB etc.) but that's a LOT of work on both side. On supplier side you have ton of stuff you need to take care of, providing method to do consistent backups, caring about log rotation, handling service restarts if something fails etc. and lastly procedures to recover it from the backup

      And on client side they can't just do same database backup they do for every single other database they know, they have to take app's custom way of backing up and integrate it, or just "copy whole container and hope for best".

      It can be worth it, if your setup is complex enough that asking client to install those dependencies would be a big obstacle (and especially if you need to use different versions than available under Debian/Ubuntu stable), but if you are just deploying container with app and plain PostgreSQL db without using anything special that would need latest version, just let user ship their own DB.

      Also supporting "small" deployment with just SQLite backend is great for demoing stuff to management

      4 replies →

hliyan  5 days ago

I think what the industry is missing is some sort of interoperability standard/format for task management. I say this as someone who has been jumping from task tracker to task tracker since the early 2000's -- Trac, Jira, Redmine, Github Tasks, Trello, ClickUp, Linear, and several tools I developed myself. In each case, we rediscover/reinvent/redefine the same things: tasks, subtasks, summaries, descriptions, due dates, statuses, comments, milestones, dependencies etc. If there was some interoperability standard for task trackers, the tool churn wouldn't feel so tedious.

bryanhogan  5 days ago

The amount of high quality Kanban / Trello-like options is low while the need for these is very high. At the same time getting started in building such a tool doesn't require a lot of resources.

I think it's a good thing and I hope to see one that can replace my Notion Kanban soon.

  • xet7  5 days ago

    For replacing Notion Kanban, maybe AFFiNE, that is mostly MIT license:

    https://github.com/toeverything/AFFiNE

    But some part of server code license may need checking:

    https://github.com/toeverything/AFFiNE/blob/canary/packages/...

    • bryanhogan  4 days ago

      Thanks for the suggestion, I love AFFiNE's approach, but for me it's just not there yet. I'm subscribed to their e-mail newsletter and check up on it from time to time, but for me personally it needs some more progress, e.g. a mobile version.

  • kingkongjaffa  5 days ago

    What makes it high quality in your experience?

    (I’m doing customer research for my own kanban startup) /s

    • bryanhogan  5 days ago

      Well, what makes such a product high quality is highly subjective :D

      But for me personally I'd love a Kanban product that can rival Notion's feature set and simplicity, can be used offline / is local-first, offers some custimzation options, does not force me into a subscription, works well on desktop (Windows) as well as on my phone (Android).

      1 reply →

mrbluecoat  5 days ago

Agreed. The AGPL license was the nail in the coffin for me.

  • ta1243  4 days ago

    Why? Did you want to use it, extend it, and sell proprietary addons yourself?

    I haven't looked much at AGPL, how does it hurt the user?