Hi, I am really starting to like the product and approach and will consider using it for my customers. My question is this: what happens if you guys stop trading or decide to do something else?

Now I'm sure that this is not on your mind, but stranger things have happened... where does that leave me and my customers please? As you are not opensource it may leave us without any support or product base.

Regards
Jonathan

[KK]

Hi Jonathan,

I am glad you have started liking Couch. I was actually starting to get worried

On a more serious note -
As discussed with you elsewhere on this forum, you know that we have a road-map leading upto going open source.
In the meanwhile, although we have no intentions whatsoever of closing shop, as you said if something untoward happens - please rest assured that the interests of those who have invested in Couch will be uppermost in our minds.
We'll definitely go open with the source before the (unlikely) event of abandoning Couch.

Hope this serves to allay your concerns.

Thanks for re-assurance - which is not for me but for my customers, as they are my biggest concern and our reputation relies on being open and honest with them.

For me, I think that there is no real need to go "Open Source" anytime soon.

Sure, OS has it's advantages including more developments more often, but I like the way couch is operated so far. Provided we continue to be customers and the Couch Team continue to make money from Couch, then there is no issue for me.

If things did go belly-up, the existing sites we have would still function, so it would be a case of finding an alternative.

The best thing we can do to ensure that Couch stays alive, is support the developers by paying to upgrade all our version from the Free version. I honeslty feel that going OS should be a last resort, and only something that should be considered if the Developers of Couch decide they have had enough.

Personally, I think the project would rocket forward (aka other OS projects) with the community of developers that would help the project; from translators to coders. The benefits of a rich API and the addition of 3rd party add ons has made mediocre OS projects that bumble on - into 'world class applications' with a thriving community.

I agree that if there is a niche area, then this policy is ok. But in todays society where the community can make (or break) a project - it's worth serious consideration. I might add that I only have the future of this project at heart and would love to see it go from strength to strength. Perhaps along the lines of Drupal, Joomla, DotNetNuke, WordPress - all of which have issues - but all of which have embraced the open community.

Maybe the philosophy of a company like Perch.com - whereby the source is open for suggestions, as in the source is open for examination. Similar product. There will be many projects such as this coming along - perch, couchcms, cushycms, modx, expressionengine to name but a few.

IMHO it's only the ones embracing the community that survive. I really hope that CouchCMS takes that path and goes from strength to strength - as it deserves to.

I agree that going Open Source (or even Partially) will only benefit the program in the long run. But I also think that going OS at this early stage will force the program to develop too quickly.

At present, Couch is the dream of a few and works like an absolute charm. It is open to suggestions from the community and is well supported, documented and developed.

Going Open Source will progress this at an immense rate - but that isn't always a good thing. Just my 2p worth of course.