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New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

monicahq.com

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Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People often resort to containerization when they've lost control of their dependencies. Containerization is only completely effective when you control your dependencies and if you control your dependencies... You don't need the container.

I use docker because it's very easy to deploy home-server style. I don't care about dependencies.

Back when I had very slow DSL (as opposed to just slow DSL) I found it was almost impossible to install complex container layouts because the Docker client was not at all smart about caching and failed downloads.

Later on I worked at a place that had gigabit Ethernet and got into an argument with the CTO who couldn't believe the build process (which built software packed it into containers and ran a system based on containers) took 20 minutes. I set my stopwatch and it was 18 minutes and 27 seconds and a lot of that time was Docker doing ultimately meaningless I/O.

People think Docker is doing something positive for them when it is really killing their productivity, making their projects late, giving them time to go get coffee, etc.

Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#42

Author here. Super happy with this release. It took us 18 months of working on it "side project style". Almost every night and weekends actually. It's a full rewrite of the current project, with its own advantages and disadvantages of a rewrite. I hope people who used it before and didn't like it, will give it another try this time. I hope that current users who love Monica, will love this new version even more.

Congratz! As someone who installed Monica several times, and always said "I’ll fill it with data eventually" (and often thinks how useful it would be to have it filled…), I want to use this as an opportunity to try once again. What will the upgrade path be for selfhoster for the later versions? Will there be automatic migrations until 1.0?

Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#43
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the author wants to eat and have a beer sometime?

Yes, I get that. It just seems to me that the people who know what a "Personal CSM" is, don't want to self host and have 90 USD/year for a contact management and journal are rather small. It was a genuine questions from me.

I assume they did some research, a/b testing etc. and found out that this is a price people are willing to pay. Also, this is 2 beers. 1 if you have to pay US service fees and a tip

Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#44
post #19
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much do you think it should cost? More or less per month? Or maybe annual? Multi currency support? It is a genuine question.

A bit less. It just seems like a service that is "easy" to host, as in does not need much maintenance or ressources, thus allowing you to host tens of instances on a cheap VPS. But maybe I'm overlooking something. Hence me asking.

I am sure part of the money goes towards development.

Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#46
I've been interested in software like this, even set up an instance on Heroku the one time (the free tier should be adequate), but it would be a lot of work to import all of your contacts and keep it up to date with e.g. every interaction you have with these people; it's another extra load on top of your life. Great if you're a people person that wants to min/max your social life (e.g. a recruiter, HR, marketeer), but maybe Facebook would be better for the average person.

Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#47
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I get that. It just seems to me that the people who know what a "Personal CSM" is, don't want to self host and have 90 USD/year for a contact management and journal are rather small. It was a genuine questions from me.

I assume they did some research, a/b testing etc. and found out that this is a price people are willing to pay. Also, this is 2 beers. 1 if you have to pay US service fees and a tip

Could be. My first idea was they want to encourage people to self host.

Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#49
post #3
post #2

Why does it cost 9 USD per month? (Unless you self host)

How much do you think it should cost? More or less per month? Or maybe annual? Multi currency support? It is a genuine question.

Well, basic Google suite for a small business user costs around that much per month. It is not a bad alternative to your product, no? As the search over the documents, photos, contacts and emails works rather well there. And integrations with the 3rd party software and apps is great. I’m not sure Google sells the data of their business suite subscribers. I doubt they do.

A comparable personal product would normally be freemium, but very limited in storage space and events number. And then, for US/European markets you’d have a $0.x per month subscription, to lift that limit. Asking early adopters to pitch in more (maybe for some token appreciation or special treatment/logo) also makes a lot of sense.

(Take this with a lot of salt, I easily can be very wrong in any of the above).

Re: New version of Monica, codename Chandler, is available in beta

#50
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does Google and Facebook cost $0 USD per month?

Because they sell your data. I'm not asking why this cost money, I understand that. I'm asking why it cost 9 USD per month.

> I'm asking why it cost 9 USD per month.

If you think it should cost less because of N reasons -- self host it. There's an option for that vs. other solutions.

They don't need to justify their cost to you, ever, but especially when it's open sourced with an option to self host.

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