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

Well, considering that at its beginnings, Revolution was going to be "Tattoo", I'd say SiphonLabs could be a lot worse. My personal opinion at the time was that MODx was a fine name, and that's still the case. But then that's only my opinion, and I've been saying for years that I'm a tech, not a shopkeeper (and how my shopkeeper boss at PG Computers used to swear whenever I'd say that!)

Quote from: sottwell at Apr 18, 2013, 03:11 AM

Well, considering that at its beginnings, Revolution was going to be "Tattoo", I'd say SiphonLabs could be a lot worse. My personal opinion at the time was that MODx was a fine name, and that's still the case. But then that's only my opinion, and I've been saying for years that I'm a tech, not a shopkeeper (and how my shopkeeper boss at PG Computers used to swear whenever I'd say that!)

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Oh, but names are quite important. For example, in my early MODX days, I incorrectly parsed this "Sottwell" name I encountered so often on this forum. Thereby I mistook you for a heavy drinker: Sott well.

I've been called worse things

If it were up to me, MODx and MODx Cloud would remain the names. But it's not up to me. SiphonLabs makes me think of a weird fish. As a child I had a lot of those Time-Life nature series books, and there was a fish of some kind that siphons water as a propulsion method. We did have somebody siphon the gas out of our gas tank one night.

Quote from: halfnium at Apr 18, 2013, 02:49 AM

How about calling the hosting service "M-Cloud?"

I always called it M Cloud, after a famous 70's TV detective, but then my Aussie humour is always obtuse.

I don't understand why they choose "SiphonLabs" for their name. Besides that many people already know this, but for those who don't, if you google siphon you will find that a siphon is a flush trapway in a toilet.

it is a terrible name - I just think of siphoning petrol / profits. Going to be hard sell to clients.

I'm not one to dismiss a marketing strategy before I understand it, and I suspect the second-guessing around SiphonLabs has gone as far as it needs to.

But anyway, the reality is that a good service will make the merits of the name immaterial.

I remember in 1998 suggesting to someone that a little search engine project could be worth watching, and being immediately told that no-one would use a site whose name sounded like a cross between "goofball" and "gurgle".

Google seems to have done OK regardless.

Well it was in the internet bubble, and companies with double "oo" were popular and cool :p

Halfnium: You and I are going to be friends. I could not agree more about naming and the name for Siphon in particular. Your posts made me smile. I think I expressed the same thing as a gut reaction. LOL.

However I do think the SiphonLabs product offering will be suite...er sweet. I wish them good luck.

I think the poster who said that what they are doing is common sense was right on. It's a workable plan to pursue. But I also think that the "music makers and dreamers of dreams" are Ryan and his team. I know they have the base and skills to move MODX (the software and the company) forward.

I also think Jay's comment about the roadmap was significant. He is being honest and more to the point, direct in the fact that we have the opportunity to help shape this software that we love. And my big burden is that I cannot complain or vent if I am not willing to pitch in and help. So I would advise anyone with thoughts, suggestions or ideas regarding roadmap-ping (is this a word? it should be.) to jot them down and send them in via whatever means necessary.

I don't think that anyone who has been in business for any length of time can say that there have not been times when they recognized that changes needed to be made. That is what all of these guys are doing and they have had to do it in a public forum. I think they are doing so with grace and I'm excited to see what is ahead.

In the meantime, anyone who wants to help me locate missing documentation, or spiff up existing... feel free to email or message me.

ETA: One other point I'd like to make. I think the most significant thing is that for a while, for a myriad of reasons... I have not felt heard.

Now I do feel heard. I think that's a huge step forward for the team.

Mary (einsteinboi) echoed a lot of things I felt and I just want to say, I think we will see changes. I think we are being heard.



Quote from: halfnium at Apr 18, 2013, 03:44 AM

Quote from: sottwell at Apr 18, 2013, 03:11 AM

Well, considering that at its beginnings, Revolution was going to be "Tattoo", I'd say SiphonLabs could be a lot worse. My personal opinion at the time was that MODx was a fine name, and that's still the case. But then that's only my opinion, and I've been saying for years that I'm a tech, not a shopkeeper (and how my shopkeeper boss at PG Computers used to swear whenever I'd say that!)

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Oh, but names are quite important. For example, in my early MODX days, I incorrectly parsed this "Sottwell" name I encountered so often on this forum. Thereby I mistook you for a heavy drinker: Sott well.

[ed. note: redtoad last edited this post 13 years, 5 months ago.]

Quote from: splittingred at Mar 27, 2013, 09:42 PM

Secondly, and I'm going to be really honest here, over the past 4 years, there has simply not been enough of a revenue stream for MODX to fund even one core developer on its own. In 2012, MODX made $8,800 on Partner fees, and $3,000 in donations, for a total of $11,300 in non-cloud revenue: not enough to even pay someone part-time. [...] We've been living off of angel investor funds for the past two years, and now we have to become revenue-neutral to continue to pay our not-very-high salaries.

I haven't read all 20 pages of this thread, but I want to comment on this. I think part of the problem is you look too successful. You have a swanky website, VP-this and VP-that and news of new hires coming out every month or two (at least earlier in the 4 year period it seemed like it). To equal you in frankness: You haven't looked like a company that needs donations. You look commercial and successful.

I believe this has also impacted on the development community. MODX feels like a company product which is open source, vs an open source project with development sponsored by a company. [This has changed in the last year, but see next paragraph] You're not alone: Squiz Matrix falls into this trap too. And if that's intended that's fine; it's how I've kept some of my open source code.

What makes open source projects self-sustaining and popular with developers is never entirely clear, but feeling the community have a say in direction and architecture, rather than being decided by the 'company' (as I and others felt for Revolution) definitely helps attract developers. I know this has changed greatly for the better with MODX in the last year, but it takes time for perceptions to change.

MODX has also attracted a large end-user community due to the low barrier to entry. This is great, but does put a strain on supporting them, and means a lot of take from people who can't necessarily contribute. The balance clearly isn't sustainable, which means we need to attract a bunch of more technical contributors.

TL;DR: Image is everything. Are MODX and MODX, LLC separate enough in developers' minds?