Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
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Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#2I truely feel for the guy.
Reading the blog it seems like the age old story of having a superior product (drastically cut cost, better performance, etc.). However getting managers at customers to stick their neck out for it is hard. Because they know (and to a degree I can't say I blame them) changing such a critical piece of core infrastructure is going to be stressful. And what's in it for them if the company saves some money it is currently happy to spend? If it fails they sure do know what's in it for them... So big chance they'll just stick with the properietary solution they already have.
EDIT: I should add I think there is also another dimension to this. Things that currently work and "only" cost money are a problem solved for a company. If they have to change it they have to spend their "intelectual budget" on it. Meaning resources like technical people which are probably already scarce and working on other project need to be assigned to it.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#3In case you're wondering what PLC4X is, it's a way of gluing different industrial IoC things together. https://plc4x.apache.org/
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#4Glad he gave up. This is the kind of project industries should be funding. It seems like a bunch of factories got his labor for free. I love open source but its better if its something that scratches you own itch, or someone funds it.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#5Maybe I missed something, but I had to search for the repo : https://github.com/apache/plc4x
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#6I truely feel for the guy. Reading the blog it seems like the age old story of having a superior product (drastically cut cost, better performance, etc.). However getting managers at customers to stick their neck out for it is hard. Because they know (and to a degree I can't say I blame them) changing such a critical piece of core infrastructure is going to be stressful. And what's in it for them if the company saves…
>>>> Things that currently work and "only" cost money are a problem solved for a company. If they have to change it they have to spend their "intelectual budget" on it. Meaning resources like technical people which are probably already scarce and working on other project need to be assigned to it.
This is on the mark. This is why "upgrading" anything is hard. Stuff already implemented and being used has an inertia, which is very hard to overcome.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#7Believe it, or not. We still failed at getting customers to go beyond our incredibly successful POCs. I’ll write a separate article on this. What we were told off the record was, in every case things didn’t proceed due to politics and not our performance.
Sorry to hear it didn't work out, Chris - looking forward to your article. PLC4X was definitely one of the more interesting projects at codecentric.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#8I thought this blog post ironic since it said stuff like "free trial of open source" and "Industry 4.0."
I also think it's crazy that the government forces businesses to be profitable.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
#9This is dangerously close to being off-topic but it would be good to hear from people interested in PLC4X:
I would really like to see home appliance manufacturers extend their products with a simple 2.n IO pin interface at the back. Absolutely minimal. For example: a kettle could have an input pin to turn it on/off and an output pin that just writes whether it is on or not. A simple 4-pin interface on the back in this case. An ice-machine that has three size options and an on/off switch. The classic case of the bean-to-cup coffee machine.
Does anyone know if there is a standard (for manufactures) for this sort of thing? If this was a standard that added a dollar or 3 to appliances one could plug-in some IOT board that allows for Home-assistant or similar integration.
Of course I've completely ignored the question of whether or not a market exists.
Re: Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
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