MODX Core development team abandoning MODX development as 1st priority? Please read!

Quote from: eric.swd at Apr 12, 2013, 03:32 AM

I mean its a farkin' work of art!

Well said good sir! I think beyond the traditional usages of MODX, there are a fair number of us that use MODX in ways in which Ryan and gang could never have foreseen, but that serve our purposes amazingly!

Quote from: sparkyhd at Apr 12, 2013, 04:05 AM

How is it possible that these same brains can't mimic that clarity of thought in their marketing and business planning? It's got to be something to do with the left side vs the right side of the brain I guess.

From my experience working in almost 40 clients over the years, what I realize is that we are trained to think of a company as a unified entity. This isn't logical because we know that companies are made up of individuals and that individuals, through either personality or role, have different goals on how they want to "take things to the next level". The developers focus on the product in making it awesome, and those with a marketing bent to them try to do the same with market awareness of the product and trying to show the product in the best light possible.

Unfortunately, on the marketing side, there is a tendency to spin things to the point that the spin eclipses the message, so that the message becomes a goal of what a company wants to be rather than what it actually is. Then the company internally starts to actually believe their own marketing. And that's where companies tend to start to fail.

Given the above information, the separation of MODX and SiphonLabs allows the marketing side to focus on a product which will help bring in the money (i.e. SiphonLabs) and MODX can go back to focusing on letting the product shine on its own, rather than have everything go thorugh the marketing filter.

Oh, yes. The most ominous thing I've ever heard from a client is "We've formed a committee to oversee our web presence". That's happened several times over the years, and in every case, since fortunately for me I don't have to work to support myself any more, I've fired the client within a month or so. This department wants this, that department wants that, and the other department doesn't like either one of those ideas, but doesn't know what it does want. No, thanks!

I worked with enough hosting startups 15-20 years ago from Miami with his daddy's big bucks behind it to Israel on a shoestring in an attic (I almost bought that one out myself), to know that hosting is a full-time business. And developing and maintaining and supporting an application like MODx is a full-time job. Like the good Book says, no man can serve two masters.

Thanks for all the passion and wanting to see MODX succeed. There are a ton of great ideas here, some of which we keep trying to be successful with, but it's honestly really hard, e.g., Donations … even Leo Laporte struggled with a donation business model and frankly also gave up (skip forward to around the 17-minute mark).

I also really encourage everyone to read the MODX blog regularly going forward. Several important posts were recently made that touch on many subjects in this thread.

I think the most insight into what it takes to be a world-changer with a successful Open Source project can be gleaned from the organization that fosters Drupal: https://association.drupal.org/about/990 (The team and roles behind the scenes making things happen, not the entity type, organization or tax structure.)

And finally regarding the trademarks, we have work to do on this front, completely acknowledged and understood. Unfortunately, it's easy to read the first part of the trademark policy, get scared or jump to conclusions, then get frustrated and leave. The end part talks about what is permitted. Honestly, we need to get an attorney to do this for us and again much can be learned from Drupal on this front.

Quote from: sottwell at Apr 12, 2013, 07:34 AM

Like the good Book says, no man can serve two masters.

Tiger Woods has 4 Masters.

LOL!!! That was really well played.

:D

He was doing OK with the Masters, it was the mistresses that got him into trouble!

And then he got a divorce.

it was the mistresses that got him into trouble!

What a way to end my reading of cries, weeping and tears...people really love MODx. I think one way to really to show this LOVE is to plan to donate a percentage of every project to the MODx.

I refer to this thread as the "WTF thread" in case anyone cares. Officially.

Quote from: ojchris at Apr 12, 2013, 11:28 AM

it was the mistresses that got him into trouble!

What a way to end my reading of cries, weeping and tears...people really love MODx. I think one way to really to show this LOVE is to plan to donate a percentage of every project to the MODx.

I'd love to be able to do this but as of yet I haven't been able to financially. My project manager (me) keeps underbidding these projects. Instead though I donate time, which I think of as nearly the same.

In the future though I think I will start recommending that if a client is pleased with MODX to make a donation.