ShareNSave
commented
9 years ago Thanks for your feedback. I too am a mac user since the mid 1990s so I'm in the same boat. The developers we worked with initially to build this never had a view that it would be Open Source. We had it sitting on AWS (Amazon) and we were thinking about how we might sell a customised instance of this for anyone that needed it, as a SaaS model.
However, when we realised that a tool for the sharing community had to be shared, and shared for free as open source we looked at the cheapest, quickest way of doing this.
But here's how we see it working: 1 - This has to sit on a server somewhere. There's not really any value to you having a solo copy on your local machine, other than test purposes. For your community to get the most out of it they need to be able to add, edit, delete and search on a server with enough power to serve up the site reliably. So for most potential users you need a web hosting company who can support the requirements of the software 2 - Yes, one of the limitations is needing a host with .NET however pretty much any host you go with these days can offer that capability. Cheap .NET hosting will mean you can run the CMS (N2) and the Share N Save software with no initial costs. We hope that's enough of a draw card to get some uptake of the software. 3 - We imagine there will be opportunity for partnerships with local government or community groups and local web hosting providers in your area to get you the hosting you need, possibly as a sponsored deal to support sharing and collaboration in their town/city. This will again reduce the barriers entry - we hope!
I'm not sure how to address the visual studio issue, or to reproduce the software in other coding languages. We're open to your suggestions and any thoughts you might have.
Are you in a position to get an install of this on a server that meets the required software specs and just test it 'as-is' to see if it meets your needs before you aim to develop or customise the software? Maybe (and it's a big maybe) this might be fit for purpose out of the box for mapping sharing and collaborative resources in your area?
If it is, but you see aspects of it you think should be customised or new functionality that would improve it, let us know in the first instance - perhaps someone else might be working on that already, or we might be looking to build that ourselves.
Once again, if there's anything we can do to see this software rolled out to improve collaborative consumption initiatives in your area we will absolutely help where we can.
Thanks for the feedback.
robogeek
I appreciate the act of sharing this source code with the public. I read about it on Shareable.net and got excited because I'm involved with the Transition Towns movement and could easily see using this in a Transition Initiative. (I'm involved with Transition Silicon Valley)
However - I find .NET to be a major roadblock. I don't have any Windows machine anywhere near me, nor a copy of Visual Studio, nor any of the other requirements. Instead I have a Mac and a Chromebook and tons of experience with Drupal, Wordpress, (both PHP) and Node.js. I have over 20 years professional software engineering experience, and none of it with anything Microsoft.
Now I'm feeling frustrated, don't know what to do, and am feeling self-conscious because I see this is your first issue after opening the code.