Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Actual is going open-source

actualbudget.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 332 posts

Re: Actual is going open-source

#11

Post by jlongster »

mgkimsal wrote: post #8

> In June, all existing subscriptions will be cancelled. Specific dates coming soon. On one hand, good for being this transparent about it. I'm sure none of these decisions are easy. On the other hand... June is... 6 weeks away? I don't know the size or tech skills of the userbase - perhaps this is a decent time frame? It seems overly aggressive going in to 'shut off' mode so quickly. But... dragging it out longer ma…

If the community want to wait, I'm happy to push back the date.

I actually thought it felt less greedy to not wait too long, because doing it in the far future just means people are paying for unsupported software. Happy to keep it running though for as long as people want.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#12

Post by bdcravens »

cpitman wrote: post #5

I wish people wouldn't use "we open sourced it" as a synonym for "this product is dead". Especially for a SaaS company, there is a totally valid business strategy in open sourcing your codebase but continuing to provide a paid SaaS offering for users that are not interested in self-hosting. It causes confusion every time a company open sources their software. Always have to wonder, "Is it dead and they are yeeting it…

Any examples of companies that opened previously closed source that continued to offer that product?

Re: Actual is going open-source

#13

Post by cpitman »

indigochill wrote: post #9
cpitman wrote: post #5

I wish people wouldn't use "we open sourced it" as a synonym for "this product is dead". Especially for a SaaS company, there is a totally valid business strategy in open sourcing your codebase but continuing to provide a paid SaaS offering for users that are not interested in self-hosting. It causes confusion every time a company open sources their software. Always have to wonder, "Is it dead and they are yeeting it…

I don't necessarily interpret it as a synonym, more that these are two events that naturally coincide. IMO it's better to decide to open source a product when it dies than to annihilate it. If nothing else, people may be able to learn something from the source.

I agree, better to open source a product then to just let it die off. I just wish companies were honest in their headline ("this product didn't work out, here's the source") instead of trying to spin it.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#14

Post by jtbayly »

jlongster wrote: post #11
mgkimsal wrote: post #8

> In June, all existing subscriptions will be cancelled. Specific dates coming soon. On one hand, good for being this transparent about it. I'm sure none of these decisions are easy. On the other hand... June is... 6 weeks away? I don't know the size or tech skills of the userbase - perhaps this is a decent time frame? It seems overly aggressive going in to 'shut off' mode so quickly. But... dragging it out longer ma…

If the community want to wait, I'm happy to push back the date. I actually thought it felt less greedy to not wait too long, because doing it in the far future just means people are paying for unsupported software. Happy to keep it running though for as long as people want.

I'm not using your software, but as somebody who has had to switch personal finance apps multiple times, I'd personally want to be able to use it through the end of the year. It's easier to just start a new program at a new year.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#15

Post by cpitman »

bdcravens wrote: post #12
cpitman wrote: post #5

I wish people wouldn't use "we open sourced it" as a synonym for "this product is dead". Especially for a SaaS company, there is a totally valid business strategy in open sourcing your codebase but continuing to provide a paid SaaS offering for users that are not interested in self-hosting. It causes confusion every time a company open sources their software. Always have to wonder, "Is it dead and they are yeeting it…

Any examples of companies that opened previously closed source that continued to offer that product?

I work for Red Hat, we do it all the time. We often acquire closed source companies and then release the software as open-source, while continuing to offer it.

I believe the most recent example was Stackrox, open sourced March 31st. The "productized" version is Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security. https://www.stackrox.io/blog/open-source-stackrox-is-now-ava...

Re: Actual is going open-source

#16

Post by poleguy »

I still use YNAB4 regularly. I have a paid copy from before they moved to an online model. I'm running it on ubuntu in wine. It still works fine.

I had never heard of Actual till today. It looks like it would cover my use case. I'm not sure why I would have switched, though, as YNAB4 still works for me and has no recurring charge and is fully local.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#17

Post by sirtimbly »

Sad that this app didn't achieve the scale of subscriptions it deserved. A good reminder that awesome tech isn't usually enough. Do you regret not taking capital to fund marketing and support full time? Or put another way, any other ideas of where you could have spent someone else's money to give you a boost into higher subscription numbers?

Re: Actual is going open-source

#18

Post by encoderer »

I did the SaaS-side-business thing for about 6 years. Early on I decided the SaaS was going to be my next career move and I would stay at my employer until I could quit employment altogether. A new job means you have to earn your place on a new team and how could I do that successfully with one eye on my SaaS at all times?

When James joined stripe I was surprised both that stripe was agreeable to side projects and that James was courageous enough to try to do both. Open sourcing here just looks like more courage.

Good luck James and congrats on what you’ve built here!

Re: Actual is going open-source

#19

Post by tshaddox »

cpitman wrote: post #5

I wish people wouldn't use "we open sourced it" as a synonym for "this product is dead". Especially for a SaaS company, there is a totally valid business strategy in open sourcing your codebase but continuing to provide a paid SaaS offering for users that are not interested in self-hosting. It causes confusion every time a company open sources their software. Always have to wonder, "Is it dead and they are yeeting it…

To be fair, the email they sent to their newsletter list is more succinct and clear about their services shutting down:

>>>

This will be the last email you ever receive from Actual. You are receiving this because you are a subscriber or have used Actual in the past.

Actual is moving to an open-source model and will be 100% free.

This means our subscription syncing service will be shutting down in the future. We have instructions for setting up your own server, letting you completely own your data and have syncing for free.

Read more details about how this effects you in the full blog post: https://actualbudget.com/open-source

Re: Actual is going open-source

#20

Post by jlongster »

sirtimbly wrote: post #17

Sad that this app didn't achieve the scale of subscriptions it deserved. A good reminder that awesome tech isn't usually enough. Do you regret not taking capital to fund marketing and support full time? Or put another way, any other ideas of where you could have spent someone else's money to give you a boost into higher subscription numbers?

Yes I totally regret it. There are ethical VCs that would be willing to invest a small amount and I should have done that. Bootstrapping isn't all it's cracked up to be; there are a lot better and smarter ways to kickstart a project.
Post reply on HN