Earlier quoted context omitted.
$4166/month is meeting people halfway, considering these guys could easily make twice that in salary at a normal job.
Twice that? Easily? Color me skeptical...
Engineer salary in SV is $100-$200k a year.
Mailpile: Let’s take email back
171–180 of 241 posts
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#172I don't get it, how is it better than RoundCube[0], Horde[1] or any other webmail clients? Out of the six "reasons", three of them are already there in the wild (privacy, self-host and no ads), I'm pretty sure two more can be found/coded (search & encryption) and the last one (speed) is completely subjective to one's usage.
I mean seriously, what's the appeal to paying for Mailpile when I could just use an open-source webmail client on my server? (Which I will by the way, thanks for the idea)
1: http://www.horde.org/apps/imp
PS: Here are more: http://www.noupe.com/ajax/10-ajax-webmail-clients.html
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
$4166/month is meeting people halfway, considering these guys could easily make twice that in salary at a normal job.
Twice that? Easily? Color me skeptical...
4166/month is only $50k/year. It's easy for software developers to make more than $100k/year, especially in the bay area.
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#174I'm in the crowdfunding business, so I feel strange saying this, but I'm really turned off by this model of 'pay us in advance for developing a product that hasn't been market tested or validated,' especially when asking for a sum as large as is $100,000. What happened to building something and selling it? According to the campaign page, the need is so great because: "We're asking for a lot of money, so of course you…
"pay us in advance for developing a product that hasn't been market tested or validated"
This is exactly what they are doing, by crowd funding it. They are essentially testing the market.
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#175Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twice that? Easily? Color me skeptical...
4166/month is only $50k/year. It's easy for software developers to make more than $100k/year, especially in the bay area.
Sadly, in the Bay Area $4166 is almost exactly what an exempt employee making $100K actually takes home every month.
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand your objections at all. These guys are making a proposal, which individuals are free to accept or reject as they see fit. Those who accept it know what they're getting themselves into and accept the risk. No one is getting scammed. If these guys want a parachute, that's their prerogative. Just because you wouldn't take the same approach doesn't mean the approach is a bad one.
Point blank - I'm tired of people abusing crowdfunding as some sort of money grab (Spike Lee's recent Kickstarter as an example) and because I'm involved in the industry, I have a vested interest in seeing crowdfunding, as an industry, prosper. These guys probably have a great product, and are probably great people, and for that reason alone, I feel bad that my comment leads the thread. However, I never said anything…
Crowdfunding will continue to diverge into two camps: Kickstarter-style, curated and reputable, and IndieGoGo-style, a roll of the dice where you might get left hanging, or even scammed. Given that it is now trivial to roll your own crowd finding site, you can't make the latter go away. The best you can do in terms of perception management is to put yourself in the former category: "We're not like those other crowdfunding sites..."
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live on the planet not defined only by your personal experiences.
Ok then go research how many companies in silicon valley give their employees Gmail. All the companies I've been worked provided Gmail only because there is really not a good open source option. And Google accounts is a huge monopoly that obviously sounds bad enough to hurt your feelings. But this is the reality. Google is a valley of shit and most of us want to move on from it.
Criticizing Google doesn't "hurt my feeling". I've moved away from Gmail and other Google services (not all) a few years ago because I disagreed with their options. But that doesn't mean I have to agree with nonsensical claims such as Google having a monopoly on email.
Maybe they do on Silicon Valley, but I'm sure you realize that's a pretty insignificant subset of email users.
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok then go research how many companies in silicon valley give their employees Gmail. All the companies I've been worked provided Gmail only because there is really not a good open source option. And Google accounts is a huge monopoly that obviously sounds bad enough to hurt your feelings. But this is the reality. Google is a valley of shit and most of us want to move on from it.
Criticizing Google doesn't "hurt my feeling". I've moved away from Gmail and other Google services (not all) a few years ago because I disagreed with their options. But that doesn't mean I have to agree with nonsensical claims such as Google having a monopoly on email. Maybe they do on Silicon Valley, but I'm sure you realize that's a pretty insignificant subset of email users.
I believe we aren't in the same planet.
Re: Mailpile: Let’s take email back
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have actually been working on Mailpile "altruistically" for a while, but sorely missed the ability to dedicate myself to it full time. Thus the fundraiser.
Totally get it, but why not share some of the risk with your supporters and meet them halfway? Asking for a full (decent) salary for two people for a year places all of the risk on your supporters and makes you look uninspired. Edit: I can't reply to child, so I'll do it here. It has nothing to do with a free ride. I don't want the product because the solution isn't right for me, but I would much prefer to pay a mont…
Well I can say that being married and having obligations makes bootstrapping a company extremely hard. I know because I'm currently doing this and the added stress for me has been 5x what it could have been.