How not to go commercial. The activeCollab story.

ActiveCollab, the project management app that was previously billed as the open source alternative to basecamp, released their commercial model for their much awaited 1.0 version.

http://www.activecollab.com/blog/49/activecollab-1.0-plans-and-prices/

In reading the comments in the blog post, it seems that they have alienated the very user who made them popular in the first place by going with a high cost model structured on a plan based on number of open projects (much like the basecamp and other 2.0 use). It seems that the userbase was ready to face some cost but the suggested cost is quite a bit higher than anyone had expected and the idea of project limitations is, well... limiting.

I am curious if they took the correct route, or are they setting themselves up for a very limited success? As a user of activeCollab I was taken back by their commercial plan, just a little to drastic for me.

If I were in their shoes I would have released the commercial version under a different name and kept up the OS version in parallel.

They sure missed the curve somewhat here... I was ready to go for the commercial version as I have always been pleased by aC even with its shortcomings it was the only real good OS project management app’...

I was ready to pay the price, but ouch they really overshot that !

It not only the prices, but as said on the comments, the limitations are bad : close source for everything but the lite version, project limitation is quite impeding...

I still think will test out the lite version (free but missing tickets, calendar and some nice items...).
I hope they will work out something different as far as the pricegrid is concerned.

I still have to check how localization is going to work also, my customer need french, it’s a showstopper if I can’t localize it (or if I pay, have it localized...).

We’ll see !
But it sure is a cold shower for many aC users :-(

Someone picked up the old aC (0.7.1) project and seems to be planning on keeping it alive under a new brand name ProjectPeir. Worth watching to see what comes out of it.

http://www.projectpier.org/

Thanks for the heads up, sure will be interresting to see what this becomes

Sounds they’ve listened to users, http://www.activecollab.com/blog/50/pricing-details-updated/

The release of ActiveCollab 1.0 is for today, and it’s anytime now : their website return a blank page at the moment I guess the update is under way for the release !

I’ll keep you posted about a demo link and possibly a little review

I just went through the demo of AC 1.0 and must say that it is really cool and has a very attractive interface. However I was unable to see much that made it worth dropping the previous open source version for the commercial one (biggest difference that I could see was the sharp ajax interface). The demo only allows non administrative functions so I may be missing something. I suspect that the projectpier.org fork will eventually catch-up, and from what I read they are serious about making a true community project so it can get some momentum as time passes. I think that I will be staying with the OS version for now.

I can understand your point of view, but let’s clarify a bit : as far as the SmallBiz version is concerned, I fully agree with you it’s the same app with a better interface (that’s not a small pro, IMHO).

Now, if we’re talking about the "Corporate" version, well there are a few important things : the calendar (will be great to have my projects into iCal ), a basic ticketing system, Time tracking (very basic but a key feature for me !), and Pages which have wiki-like features (revisionning) and can allow collaborative editing of documents (it’s not writeboard, granted, but decent enough).

I have lots of doubts about projectpier, checked them out but I fail to see clear vision (where do they want to go with this fork ?). I share what kemie posted at their forums (here) and the answer is quite fuzzy...

Personnally, I don’t think aC 1.0 is that expensive. Of course I am a big fan of Open Source but when you have no serious alternate OS app, I’d rather go commercial especially when it’s a tool I use every day. Being french, I can’t turn to hosted solutions such as BaseCamp (not translated) or Joyent’s connector The corporate aC 1.0 seems a very good option to me, especially since I get to keep all my projects data currently run with aC 0.7.1.

I agree with your points. The issue for me is not the price. I found it definitely well built, but what I ment to say is that I am happy enough with the 7.1 release to not consider the upgrade, if I thought it would benefit my business I would consider it.

Regarding ProjectPier, I read an interview from the feed from www.smallbiztrends.com (oddly I cant find the interview on their site but I received it in the feed the other day, must be a bug since it seemed unedited) that describes the idea as being open for community participation and other plans:

Where do you plan to go with the application (features, API, plugins)?

Cross: This is probably our most often asked question, and since we just released version 0.8, it is something we are thinking a lot about. As a group, we are trying to form a road map and figure out where we want to focus on next. Personally, the biggest feature that I’d like to see is a plug-in architecture. Additionally, we’d like to implement 2 major features that many people have been asking for - time tracking and project templates. There are several other features that I think would be really useful to have, but I don’t think everyone necessarily desires them nor will they be appropriate for every project. That’s why I think the plug-in architecture is really the most important place to focus; it will allow everyone to decide what is most important to them. I think it will allow a lot more people to contribute to the project, not to mention the ability for enterprises to customize the software much more easily without having to break the core system. The other important focus point will be on some user interface improvements. Beyond that, I guess the sky is the limit - I’d like to do things like better calendaring and abstracting the authentication for things like openID or LDAP and other integrations. I am hoping for some improved theming abilities and I’m sure we’ll see Gantt charts from someone that needs to appease the boss.

Another thing that makes me a bit uneasy is that during this process of going commercial the developer seems not 100% sure about his commitment, and recently he also seems a bit bitter towards the community reaction to his plan. I will need to regain my confidence that he will not abandon the project if he does not get the return that he was expecting, the price cut is bound to reflect a significant drop in his expectations, from 2000 to 300 is a big difference.

Anyway, if you do go for the 1.0 enterprise version let us know how it goes. Also I am curious about how their support system will work out.