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Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

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Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#71

Post by nieve »

chii wrote: post #33
timdorr wrote: post #6

Here's the code: https://github.com/mattermost/platform From the look of the screenshots ( http://www.mattermost.org/70-2/ ), I'd say there are some copyright concerns with the styles. This isn't a Slack alternative, it's a Slack clone. That's very problematic from a copyright stance. Why not create your own design style? Gogs had (has?) this same issue: https://github.com/gogits/gogs/issues/1069

> That's very problematic from a copyright stance why? they didn't copy slack (i assume) - it just looks similar. Slack doesn't (and shouldn't be allowed) own a look and feel, as long as the implementation of it is cleanroom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_dress#United_States

I have no idea if Slack could actually win a case, but in the US (where both companies appear to be headquartered) they do have some rights to look and feel as part of trademark law.

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#72

Post by it33 »

volent wrote: post #5

I don't really get why there is so many Slack alternatives coming up these days. On every post like this there is tons of comment linking to other Slack alternatives, it's not like this is gonna be _the_ Slack-alternative. Here is a non exhaustive list : RocketChat : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9624737 Let's Chat : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9040841 Friends : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=94…

Mattermost team here,

We think choice is good, and open source reduces the cost of creating more choice.

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#73

Post by mratzloff »

lorenzhs wrote: post #35
Dowwie wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many open source slack alternatives before someone writes one that actually utilizes the IRC protocol? Is there a defensible argument against using IRC?

There already are a number of IRC client web frontends. The one I'm working on is Glowing Bear -- https://github.com/glowing-bear/glowing-bear . It uses a proper IRC client running on a server (WeeChat in a terminal multiplexer) and connects to that via WebSockets. Minimal reinvention of the wheel, and you can continue using all those nice scripts, triggers, and filters that WeeChat offers. The frontend (Glowing Bear…

Designer front ends matter. You have no screenshots, which is going to severely limit adoption. If the design is average or subpar, it will limit adoption.

Also, integrations with third party services matter. Everyone seems to ignore this, but it's critical.

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#74

Post by it33 »

crdoconnor wrote: post #47
jnbiche wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because almost certainly engineers will want to integrate an on-premises system into their existing system, and that will trigger the AGPL for all the systems that are network-connected to the AGPL system. Unless you are sure that your engineers will know to not try to integrate the AGPL software with any of your existing systems, I agree that people should just stay away.

>Because almost certainly engineers will want to integrate an on-premises system into their existing system, and that will trigger the AGPL for all the systems that are network-connected to the AGPL system. That's the FUD version. The real version is that unless you are changing the source code (hint: not just writing a plugin using an externally facing API) and deploying it, you don't have to do shit.

I think you're all correct.

The key thing is MongoDB uses an AGPL _variant_ that has AGPL core and Apache 2.0 drivers. So you can run it in proprietary software if you're only calling the Apache 2.0 drivers and not modifying the AGPL part (MySQL is the grand-daddy of this variant model back to the days of GPLv2).

A number of other projects use the same pattern, and so does Mattermost. If you can run MongoDB there shouldn't be a licensing issue with Mattermost.

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#75

Post by warcode »

mrmondo wrote: post #61
StavrosK wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anyone used a self-hosted one they were satisfied with? Which one?

Let's chat looked great but we were a little put off by mongodb and something else that escapes my mind right now so we ended up sticking with OpenFire for our XMPP server / chat rooms for the time being although it certainly has it's share of bugs.

For XMPP there is Kaiwa

http://getkaiwa.com/

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#76

Post by akhilcacharya »

volent wrote: post #5

I don't really get why there is so many Slack alternatives coming up these days. On every post like this there is tons of comment linking to other Slack alternatives, it's not like this is gonna be _the_ Slack-alternative. Here is a non exhaustive list : RocketChat : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9624737 Let's Chat : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9040841 Friends : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=94…

But this one is written in Go!

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#78

Post by sbank »

a13xb wrote: post #44
javiercr wrote: post #39

> We’re a YC-backed indie video game company releasing an open source alternative to Slack. Don't want to troll you guys here, but if you're a video game company why are you spending so much time building a Slack clone? I was expecting some short of explanation in your blog post like "we did this because this serves as a core piece of our company for X reason and Slack didn't fit our use case for Y reason".

They probably pivoted. ;)

Very interested? Somewhat interested? Not interested? Which one? Which one? Which one?

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#79

Post by javiercr »

it33 wrote: post #69
tacone wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably had to build similar stuff for some of their games perhaps.

Mattermost team here, You guessed it, Mattermost is the 3rd version of what started as a portal/community site for our players (first version was forum-like, the second was Facebook-like, Mattermost is now HipChat/Slack-like).

A blog post with that story would be interesting!

Re: Mattermost: Open-source, on-premises, Slack alternative

#80

Post by frostmatthew »

reitzensteinm wrote: post #53
quesera wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Unicorn" is probably the silliest term of the year. But it degrades to meaninglessness if you include Flickr, which sold to Yahoo! in 2005, for $20MM.

Not defending the use of the term, but you have to look at acquisitions in the context of the time. Though $20m seems like nothing notable today, in the post bubble fallout it was a significant achievement.

> Though $20m seems like nothing notable today, in the post bubble fallout it was a significant achievement.

2005 is probably a bit beyond the "post bubble fallout" - nevertheless the previous year Yahoo spent $579M on Kelkoo and in 2003 (which is most definitely "post bubble fallout" era) they bought Overture Services for $1.6B[1].

Creating something that fetches $20M is certainly a success, but let's not pretend this is some amazing acquisition story on par with YouTube.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...!

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