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osCommerce

The e-commerce.

Should OSC be added to hosting control panels


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Hi all,

 

As some of you know, we install OSCommerce for our web hosting clients. We do that with other shopping carts like Interchange and Agora as well.

 

Now more and more hosts are adding OSC to their customer control panels (we will soon) so that someone can install OSC on his account with just one click. Seeing that many people on this forum have problems installing OSC, this does not seem to be a bad idea. It does mean that more and more people will install OSC and seek for support (here e.g.)

 

What do you all think automatic install or keeping it the way it is. :?:

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Automatic install might be a nice thing to add value to your hosting packages.

 

But please think about the implications for us poor people that are handling support. We will see lots of newbies coming here that will say "I got osC preinstalled, I don't know anything, I need help and my ISP told me to go here"

 

So effectively it would mean abusing our bandwidth and ressources to make your customers happy.

 

If you have some sort of compensation to offer (hey, we give you osCommerce for free) it could be acceptable. ;-)

 

More opinions?

You can't have everything. That's why trains have difficulty crossing oceans, and hippos did not adapt to fly. -- from the OpenBSD mailinglist.

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I am confused. Do the developers of OSC wish that OSC is being used by as many people so that it can be become like the world's most used shopping cart or do you want to keep it a secret?

 

Anton

 

 

PS. If you want us to host your forum, so that we pay for the bandwith, no problem :)

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I am confused.

Then I will try to solve that :-)

 

Do the developers of OSC wish that OSC is being used by as many people so that it can be become like the world's most used shopping cart or do you want to keep it a secret?

We want to rule the world, ofcourse.

 

But we have seen some quite odd things. There is one company that claims they include osCommerce in their control panel software. They also claim they have added "some bugfixes". Yet they are not willing to forward us their changes.

 

But they are telling their customers that support is handled here. So effectively they are sending costumers to us that use a derivative work based on osCommerce. How can we possibly support a version of osCommerce that we do not know as we are not able to check the sources?

 

These short-minded forms of distributing osCommerce are of no great help for osCommerce nor the community.

 

My personal advice would be to wait untill 2.2 is released. Then add osCommerce on a defined codebase, so that support is possible.

 

And if a control panel company is willing to inform us about that happening and offer some sponsorhip for the project they are using to make money - more then welcome.

 

I hope I made my point clear. Yet it is my personal opinion only. Harald is the project leader.

 

PS. If you want us to host your forum, so that we pay for the bandwith, no problem  :)

 

You will be surprised how many traffic this forum causes ;-)

You can't have everything. That's why trains have difficulty crossing oceans, and hippos did not adapt to fly. -- from the OpenBSD mailinglist.

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Of course we want osc to rule the world. On the other hand if someone is making money from our code they should take some responsibility for the use of that code.

 

It's a matter of morals. I could setup a site offering oscommerce installs for x$, but if I then said if you have problems don't contact me, I don't have the time. Send all your queries to the authors.

 

Is this morally correct. I've taken your money but passed of support responsibility to people who are working for nothing.

 

Sure, the great community we have here will answer those queries, but that doesn't make it right.

Trust me, I'm an Accountant.

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Well if you develop software and you want people to actual use it, not just develop than you will get questions from those users. I also think it is fair to expect hosts or other providers using OSC to take (some) responsibility for offering that service. As a matter of fact we do so for Interchange (we have our own forum) and also recently for OSC.

 

I think it is great to give people the opportunity to sell (their) products online. It will benefit the development of the Internet and global economy.

 

I think it is GREAT that people like you spend time to give OSC to people. One way to get less support questions would be to work on better FAQ and making customizing of OSC more user friendly in stead of adding features or modules (I admit that that must be the boring side or programming).

 

I think it would be good for the OSC community to promote hosts and developers that could (for a fee) customize OSC for users. This would take away support questions and leave more time for development.

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I think it is GREAT that people like you spend time to give OSC to people. One way to get less support questions would be to work on better FAQ and making customizing of OSC more user friendly in stead of adding features or modules (I admit that that must be the boring side or programming).

 

That could be exactly one of those things companies like yours could do to sponsor the project. The people at oscdox.com are already doing a great job, but I am sure they could need help. If we (the developers) write documentation it tends to be more - well - developer oriented. If you or some other company would write that stuff from a users point of view it would be far better for the averaged osCommerce user, don't you think?

 

I think it would be good for the OSC community to promote hosts and developers that could (for a fee) customize OSC for users. This would take away support questions and leave more time for development.

 

This has been discussed before. No need to start it again. No advertising on oscommerce.com - only pair and sourceforge as they serve/sponsor this project.

You can't have everything. That's why trains have difficulty crossing oceans, and hippos did not adapt to fly. -- from the OpenBSD mailinglist.

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I think it's HORRIBLE business for a hosting company to offer something like OSC and not "support" it.

 

I for one would find someone else.

 

Salesman: "Enjoy your new Ford Mustang Sir! It's been a pleasure taking your money"

 

Customer: "Thank you. Where should I go for repairs if I need them?"

 

Salesman: "Not us, go talk to someone else. Bye!"

 

Yeah ... It's like that

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You are putting too much in the shoes of a hosting company... a host is not a designer, it just provides the road that you can travel on. The Mustang is a tool that they offer for doing so. We don't do the maintenance of the Mustang nor do we put gas in it :)

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Well ... I don't think OSC should be a main selling point for YOU. I think it would be okay for you to mention that your servers can handle OSC. But again, don't invite it with a "package deal".

 

Just my opinion.

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What is wrong with providing people with a good host for their OSCommerce site. Obviously they are already interested in OSCommerce if they choose that package and we help them out as we install it for them and give all support they need to run the program on their accounts.

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