Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#11

Post by mgkimsal » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 3:11 PM UTC

mtogo wrote: post #7

It makes me sad that people are reinventing the IRC and XMPP wheel, and doing it poorly. Want your own version of this, with a bit less effort, but free? 1. Install an XMPP server $ sudo apt-get install prosody 2. Install a web frontent There are dozens. Here's one for example: http://amiadogroup.github.com/candy/ 3. Congratulations, you just saved yourself $199.

Ummm... I just tried the 'candy' demo - there's no options for file sharing from the candy interface. Maybe there are in others, but I'd have to go test/try out there - this one says it does it already.

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#12

Post by sad » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 3:27 PM UTC

mtogo wrote: post #7

It makes me sad that people are reinventing the IRC and XMPP wheel, and doing it poorly. Want your own version of this, with a bit less effort, but free? 1. Install an XMPP server $ sudo apt-get install prosody 2. Install a web frontent There are dozens. Here's one for example: http://amiadogroup.github.com/candy/ 3. Congratulations, you just saved yourself $199.

Don't be sad. Competition and innovation are good things. XMPP and IRC aren't perfect solutions. I haven't seen this app in action so I can't comment on the "doing it poorly" part, but can you elaborate on that? What is poor about the implementation?

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#13

Post by j_baker » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 3:30 PM UTC

vlucas wrote: post #8

j_baker wrote: post #6

Why would one want to spend $200 on this instead of using IRC or Jabber?

Same reason people use Campfire and Hipchat?

I'd like to point out that this doesn't answer my question. I mean, you're not selling Campfire or Hipchat are you?

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#14

Post by mgkimsal » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 3:34 PM UTC

vlucas wrote: post #5

dmix wrote: post #4

Had me until I read "PHP".

Unfortunately, PHP is still the easiest thing for most people to setup and use, so that's what we went with for a self-hosted option. We are strongly considering a node.js version that would allow a lot more users. Is that something you might be interested in?

Shouldn't be 'unfortunate' - PHP is a perfectly fine for this sort of thing. You can address the 'ultrascalable/node/nginx/caching/i've-got-2-million-users-on-one-server-running-on-my-ipod' type of user demands after you're profitable with this first version.

The 'self-hosting' thing shouldn't even be just about saving money - there's a strong case to be made for security/privacy by self-hosting this sort of software internally.

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#15

Post by benwerd » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 3:42 PM UTC

I'm really interested in this kind of "view source" business model. Is it working for you?

There's a strong case for self-hosted apps, particularly in enterprise and school environments, and it feels like open source shouldn't be the only model for that (it's not easy to run a business based on open source software). I'm glad to see that people are trying different approaches.

Best of luck!

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#16

Post by vlucas » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 4:01 PM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #14

vlucas wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, PHP is still the easiest thing for most people to setup and use, so that's what we went with for a self-hosted option. We are strongly considering a node.js version that would allow a lot more users. Is that something you might be interested in?

Shouldn't be 'unfortunate' - PHP is a perfectly fine for this sort of thing. You can address the 'ultrascalable/node/nginx/caching/i've-got-2-million-users-on-one-server-running-on-my-ipod' type of user demands after you're profitable with this first version. The 'self-hosting' thing shouldn't even be just about saving money - there's a strong case to be made for security/privacy by self-hosting this sort of software…

I say "unfortunately" not because of PHP, but because other languages like Python and Ruby are still not as widely used. PHP's "upload-and-go" approach is a big reason for its wide success.

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#17

Post by vlucas » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 4:05 PM UTC

benwerd wrote: post #15

I'm really interested in this kind of "view source" business model. Is it working for you? There's a strong case for self-hosted apps, particularly in enterprise and school environments, and it feels like open source shouldn't be the only model for that (it's not easy to run a business based on open source software). I'm glad to see that people are trying different approaches. Best of luck!

The jury's still out on whether or not it will work for us - we just launched today! :)

This software sales model isn't new, but at the same time it is not widely used. Most people either go for hosted offerings or encrypt the source code. The viewable source code model is the same one that vBulletin and ActiveCollab use, for instance.

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#18

Post by vlucas » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 4:12 PM UTC

j_baker wrote: post #13

vlucas wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same reason people use Campfire and Hipchat?

I'd like to point out that this doesn't answer my question. I mean, you're not selling Campfire or Hipchat are you?

It is like them in terms of features and functionality. A self-hosted option is appealing to companies that want something like Campfire/Hipchat, but want more control/security over their own data (they can host themselves behind their own VPN/firewall, etc).

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#19

Post by jontas » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 4:38 PM UTC

vlucas wrote: post #17

benwerd wrote: post #15

I'm really interested in this kind of "view source" business model. Is it working for you? There's a strong case for self-hosted apps, particularly in enterprise and school environments, and it feels like open source shouldn't be the only model for that (it's not easy to run a business based on open source software). I'm glad to see that people are trying different approaches. Best of luck!

The jury's still out on whether or not it will work for us - we just launched today! :) This software sales model isn't new, but at the same time it is not widely used. Most people either go for hosted offerings or encrypt the source code. The viewable source code model is the same one that vBulletin and ActiveCollab use, for instance.

I would love to see some kind of live demo.

Re: Introducing Kikuchat: The Self-hosted Team Chat Solution

#20

Post by mgkimsal » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 4:39 PM UTC

vlucas wrote: post #16

mgkimsal wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't be 'unfortunate' - PHP is a perfectly fine for this sort of thing. You can address the 'ultrascalable/node/nginx/caching/i've-got-2-million-users-on-one-server-running-on-my-ipod' type of user demands after you're profitable with this first version. The 'self-hosting' thing shouldn't even be just about saving money - there's a strong case to be made for security/privacy by self-hosting this sort of software…

I say "unfortunately" not because of PHP, but because other languages like Python and Ruby are still not as widely used. PHP's "upload-and-go" approach is a big reason for its wide success.

Cool :)