Pro Apps for Free?
The 13.1 update is imminent, and along with the framework changes we are preparing some platform changes, too. I'll elaborate on specifics in the next few days, but for now I'd like to discuss one question....
We think about making all UNA Pro Apps free to download and use, with a Pro plan (or payment for individual app) required only to enable auto-updates.
While it may not sound like anything controversial (who doesn't like free stuff!?), I think there may be a case for thinking that we aim to "trap" people into using an app and then having to pay to update. That's not the intention, however I can see how it may be interpreted that way. We should make sure to communicate that auto-updates are not free beforehand, naturally, but beyond that what do you think we should or shouldn't do to introduce this change? What would work best for you?
Our goal is to get more people to try whichever apps they want and get started with minimal constrains.
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Very nice.
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First would you please verify if manual updates are available in the free pro apps plan and the only difference is the paid version allows for auto updates? Personally I think the current pro plan is fair, what I would like to see is a multi site discount for the pro apps. You could also consider X number of pro apps at different prices instead of an all or nothing approach. I use pretty much everything but not every one needs all of them. I would also like to point out that I have setup several sites with the free apps and it’s amazing how much you can achieve with them. I honestly don’t think you can operate a Wordpress or other CMS for much less than $100 per month with all of the plugin and template costs these days. You could always take a page from GCP and AWS start out with a $300 credit to use as you want. Best of luck.
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Yes, you can download all the new versions of the pro apps in our GitHub repo, however actually applying those updates manually is cumbersome process. We don't mind it, though.
As for multi-site setups and individual apps pricing - one of the ideas we are considering is something like $1/update pay-as-you-go fee. For example, if you have 5 sites, using 3 Pro apps each - you pay $15 to update them all whenever new versions come out. It's a bit complicated on our end, as we'd likely have to switch to credits system entirely to process micro-payments, but still is very likely option going forward.
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Awesome news !!!, I think it's a great marketing strategy. Take me for example, I love UNA and really did my homework researching and test driving as many open-source software out there, but just couldn't get my hands around all the necessary UNA module that I needed knowing it could solve my problem. Well, different stroke for different folks.... for some it might not sound good, but if you could go live with all modules free. I think you will have enough time to monetize your platform to at least generate an income to pay for the updates. Andrey....Your the man of the moment.!!! ...thanks buddy for reconsidering :-)
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It sounds like a great idea, but some apps do not work well with other apps as they were created form existing PRO apps. If this has been resolved and all apps can be installed without conflicts then this is a good idea.
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Pro Apps for Free?
As a client/user, we can understand that in such a sluggish economic environment, you want to increase your income through various charging methods!
However, have you (una.io) thought about it ?! the scale of the una.io project is huge, similar to the current top10 various types of social media and the number of developers in these top10 companies is also huge!
The unique feature of the una platform is that it allows clients/users to create their own social platforms and also actually participate in the error reporting before each version upgrade. This error correction process actually saves a lot of human resources for the una development team!
My suggestion is: the version upgrade still insists on the existing free method for members; for una Pro Apps in the platform, a charging scheme is adopted with a reward mechanism, that is, the more bugs reported by members in the actual use of the platform, the greater the price discount they enjoy , and even enjoy free prices!
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Designer2, Well explained but I got a little lost at the end. Would you mind breaking it down a bit more. What if it's done in a phase approach for example, bit by bit to understand the technicality of such challenges.
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Or create a complete dev environment.....I
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C'est une bonne idée @Andrey Yasko Andrey
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How would this work with UNA Plans in place that include the apps and updates? Would there be a slight discount if the pro apps were free and we were just paying for updates? Also third party apps need some looking into as they are still available on the marketplace but don't work with current UNA version and people using UNA Cloud servers cannot get third party apps fixed in a timely manner.
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The plans are still relevant. What I suggest is that we'd allow pro apps to be downloaded and installed for free, but updates would still require a subscription plan. Effectively it's the same as now, except you can try them without paying and choose to pay only if you're actually using them and have data that needs to be preserved, making it impossible to just re-install a pro app again. If this works I would encorage Market vendors to follow the same model - letting users try their products and pay when/if modules are in active use and vendor is issuing updates.
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Version upgrades usually include two main contents, one is to correct errors（Fix bugs), and the other is to enhance functions or add new functions.
My suggestion is: Divide version upgrades into two categories by marking and distinguishing version upgrade numbers:
the first type of upgrade (Error correction) is free; the second type of upgrade (New addition) is charged!
Please verify this real-life scenario: the reason why the number of users who purchase or use the una application platform is growing slowly?! That is not because there is insufficient investment in marketing, but because there are too many bugs encountered during use or trial!
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Andrew, you are talking about Pro applications, so UNA, not third-party applications, I understood correctly?
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Well, I can seriously do with them being free now....All software packages were developed with multi-platforms in mind. When microsoft release an upgrade, please bare in mind that they expect programmatically software feedback that in most cases happens in the background and so they begin to release patches. Microsoft is a paid product but to get something for almost nothing, we can be okay with it. NOW, my advise and has always been to my clients back in the days when I was a system analyst, never upgrade immediately because the only way vendors or software house can really sign-off on an upgrade release is by means of that extra journey by going live. It's part of the life cycle. For business it might not be so good if you have sla's in place, but we don't want to disengage our visitors or customers, For those who run small enterprises wound mind to upgrade that easily because the roll-back might not be so dramatic. But we have to eventually upgrade to stay relevant with the latest trends and technologies Everyone got a valid point, but if a module now becomes free and you paid it already, what's the deal really.....if it's free , bugs will be picked up sooner and when our guys release and upgrade....could it be that oracle or mysql had an upgrade to fine tune performance and lesser code this side.....there are only so many reason why we need to move on (upgrade)....nothing good comes easy.
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A very reasonable suggestion. That would also shorten bugfixing cycles.
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I'm more concerned about third party apps still on the market place that don't work. I get UNA wants us to work with third party devs to solve issues but it's really hard when third party devs don't have access to UNA Servers and UNA Devs don't prioritize ensuring third party app bugs are fixed. I still have an app that I paid $60 for and it doesn't work. Sent email to support and still no response from both third party dev or UNA Support. So I have an app that's badly needed for my site that when installed breaks the site yet the app is still on the marketplace. I would gladly pay an UNA Dev to fix the bugs so it's operable on my site but there is no real direct way to do this. A robust marketplace with apps that work is the answer. Any new site creator can accidentally start buying apps and quickly run into problems finding out alot of apps have bugs or aren't compatible and this will frustrate many new users who believe that all apps on the marketplace have been screened and are immediately usable. Waiting months for a dev to get back to finding the problem or a fix can put a site user quickly in the red plus add more expenses trying to get it fixed. Details on UNA Apps that distinguish wich ones aren't compatible with UNA Cloud users (Streaming App) and removing apps that no longer work. A healthy Marketplace that encourages third party Devs with testing standards before it is placed in the Market Place. I understand that some apps won't work with other apps. That's fine. I'm talking about Apps that by themselves will break a site.
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That is really accurate👍the time wasted and the despair of losing a pile of work is devastating!
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My opinion may be unusual because I am a marketing man. I think including all the pro apps free at first would cheapen the brand for UNA, and end up leaving people feel trapped into buying upgrades when old versions hit EOL or core code becomes incompatible. They may also feel trapped into having to hire UNA to configure the pro apps if they cannot do it themselves due to lack of skill or experience.
Maybe half price instead of free helps preserve the brand but sooner or later people are going to feel like they have been trapped. Then there is the fact that an upgrade itself can break a site.
I don't mind paying for code that works. That's the real issue: UNA code just needs to work, out of the box, no questions asked. If you give away the front end for free you may end up having a lot of users who are incapable of running a site in the first place due to lack of experience. Then they will run around giving bad word of mouth.
Using UNA is not like using WordPress, which is pretty beginner friendly. It's more like rocket science or at least advanced math class. The experience reminds me of something somebody once said about choosing UNIX as an OS back in the early days of UNIX. Choosing it as an operating system was like booking an airplane flight on an carrier where you had to bring your own seat and your own tools so you could bolt it to the floor before takeoff. It's still a little bit like that without something like cPanel. lol.
Back to the brand issue: Consider Apple. Apple stuff has a reputation for being easy, and just working so that somebody doesn't have to have as many tech skills to use it as compared to android or windows. You take a new apple laptop out of the box and turn it on and it finds your network all by itself. I remember the first time I saw that happen. My jaw dropped.
I suppose the gap is closing, but look what Apple can charge for their hardware compared to what others can charge (that price and profit differential is the whole point of doing good marketing (keep in mind that product development should be an integral part of marketing). The more problems you solve before they become problems (read make things easy and idiot-proof) the more you can charge while maintaining a happy and loyal customer base at the same time. When the goal in business becomes to sell more units at any cost, instead of make something the best it can be, the battle is already lost. Lot's of discount appliance stores have gone out of business over the decades trying to lose a little money on each sale while making it up on volume... ; )
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I think that UNA is absolutely ideal from a layman's point of view, anyone who can install wordpress can also install and use UNA.Problem is when you can't set up the server and its features, learning to manage UNA is then only a matter of time.
Regarding Pro Apps for free,i think it's not good, reduce the price yes, but no free. The money you collect can be used for further development and improvement of UNA. Also think about others who have already paid for Pro Apps.
So that anyone can try the installation, modules and environment, it is better to set up, for example, a 14-day test server for new users, you can delete it at any time.
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Free Vs Paid apps? If you want the platform to move forward someone has to pay the developers or they will go somewhere else. It like you working for free at your job....you are OK with that? UNA need revenue to pay developers so just like you need a paycheck at you work. My earlier suggestions were:
- 1. Make apps available on free trial basis for a set duration like 30 days. This gives UNA clients time to determine if it fits their needs. Should increase sales.
- 2. Make apps more affordable after the trial period as an incentive to purchase. Perhaps a tiered pricing system based on total purchases.
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I must have misled people with the title of this post. I didn’t mean that Pro Apps would be completely free in this scenario - rather free to download and install, but paid when updates are required.
In the long term however we would like to step away from charging for apps and monetise through integrated services, such as media server, notifications server, mail server, analytics, monitoring, etc. A lot of these services are necessary for a site to function but can be expensive when it’s just starting. For example, running your own streaming server when you only have a few streams sometimes is really inefficient - it has to be quite powerful even for a few hundred of viewers, but it would idle most of the time on a smallish network. We can offer and “shared” system integrated with UNA. Other things like, say, frontend apps or analytics can be integrated efficiently if we handle the service and still be economical for the network operators. The end game is to get revenue from clients in proportion to their success - minimal at first and more when the networks start scaling.
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The overall concept and features of una.io are impressive, and having a provider like una.io to manage high usage app seems feasible. However, I'm hesitant to invest money in something that may not be stable and could require constant bug fixes. I'm also cautious about spending money on ads for my website, as I fear that I may fix something now and next time it returns or discover a new bugs which discourage users to recommend or use my site. I believe the first step is to create a stable product, and once that's achieved, more clients will naturally follow and use your upcoming services or products. Right now, I'm hopeful that the next update will address some of my concerns and allow me to launch my site with confidence.
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I think providing services like streaming for low volume sites if the price is right would be a great benefit for startup sites. Example: I have a linux server that could handle 2Mbps per user for 400 concurrent streams using a 1Gbps fiber optics connection, but the main reason I am not using it is because I do not want to be tied to a local server and never take a Holiday, for fear that it will go down while out of town. If I were to pay to host a streaming server it would be an overkill and not very practical until the concurrent users reach a set threshold. I had a client (a free lance reporter) that was interested if they could live steam their news reporting to several social media sites about the time you introduced streaming for the UNA platform and was still in development. They lost interest because of the delay. So how far off is this service and what is the projected costs?
Thanks for the interaction
