[FC-discuss] Get Satisfaction and open source?

[Dean Jansen]

Hi everyone, sorry for my silence on the issue, thus far.

It's not so much that I want to open every service that I use, or that I
>> refuse to use proprietary services... Rather, if I have a choice between
>> a fully-featured open source service and a prettier/trendier service
>> with no "killer app" features that differentiate it, I will choose the
>> FOSS project.  I don't see why Get Satisfaction is so much better than
>> the open source forum software Miro was using before, or why we couldn't
>> build something as good as Get Satisfaction.  I think that Identi.ca has
>> stated loud and clear that we can build open source, decentralized
>> projects that have the capability of someday trouncing proprietary
>> services like Twitter.  I was using Twitter on and off but I am now an
>> Identi.ca convert, and I hope that everyone will join me not only on
>> Identi.ca but on future open source, decentralized services sure to
>> eventually follow.
>
>
Nelson,

We tried using both PHPBB and Vanilla (both FOSS), and while GS doesn't have
a single "killer feature" that makes it a superior customer support
platform, it's all around better for accomplishing our customer support
goals. It has more active searching and tagging, a better system for
categorizing questions and ideas, and it's *far*  easier to see where lots
of people are experiencing the same issue (or love the same idea or
feature). I am all in favor of an open source competitor that can match or
beat this feature-set, but after having tried a few of them I can safely say
they didn't in this particular case.

I left a more official response here:
http://www.getmiro.com/blog/2008/07/new-forums/#comment-49463

Best,
Dean

Disclaimer: in case anyone isn't aware, I'm an employee of the Participatory
Culture Foundation, developers of Miro


>
>>
>> I am not troubled by the existence of Get Satisfaction, or its use, but
>> by the abandonment of open source options for it.  People should be
>> switching the other way!  It is time to examine why open source projects
>> are abandoning open source support forums, replicate Get Satisfaction's
>> features in an open+decentralized model, and then if they cannot keep up
>> with the open/decentralized version, leave them in the dust.
>>
>> Peace,
>> ~Nelson~
>>
>> Fred Benenson wrote:
>> > Yeah, I'm not totally convinced of the need to open EVERY service that I
>> > use. I think data portability is really the paramount issue, an issue GS
>> > doesn't seem that likely to abuse -- I suppose a "database" of questions
>> and
>> > answers could be downloadable in a format to be used in other contexts,
>> but
>> > its just text.
>> >
>> > And I'm wary of turning SFC into a software freedom project first and a
>> > functional organization that responds to feedback via a cool service
>> like
>> > GS, second.
>> >
>> > F
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 6:35 AM, Stephen Paul Weber <
>> > singpolyma at singpolyma.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >>> Recently a number of open source projects including the Mozilla
>> >>> Foundation, Songbird, and Miro have switched to using a customer
>> support
>> >>> service called Get Satisfaction.  Get Satisfaction's core code is
>> >>> largely proprietary software.
>> >>>
>> >>> How much of a problem is it for open source projects to use a
>> >>> proprietary customer support system?
>> >>>
>> >> Beyond the idealist concept that all software should be opensource,
>> >> how is this an issue at all?  GS is a good service that does its job
>> >> well and has a great team behind it.  I see no reason not to support
>> >> their service.  Very few web services are open source - we applaud
>> >> those that are, but we don't boycott those that aren't.
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >>  - Stephen Paul Weber (Singpolyma)
>> >>
>> >> Web: http://singpolyma.net/
>> >> Twitter: http://twitter.com/singpolyma
>> >> IM: singpolyma at gmail.com
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
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