That's in the video (~1m0s mark). The prototype is present, but ugly/unfinished. We could put it up publicly, but it wouldn't represent the final product anyhow.
Sounds interesting, though I wouldn't trust MongoDB with my (or anyone else's) data.
The problem is that, while building the core of this is easy-ish, the end result should be something very complete & easy to stand up. Our prototype functions (barely, mostly just due to a lack of time), but it's not polished or complete. It's not smooth, easy to use/administer & it doesn't include all the little details that go into successful software projects.
Gotcha, I guess I was thinking more along the lines of open source project than actual product. Based on the replies above I see where you're going now. Good luck.
Not sure if you're coming back to read this, but I'm curious about why django? Did you choose it because of your comfort level with it or are there advantages django offers for this kind of app? I built a few things with django a while back before I moved on to tornado for everything. Not because django was bad, tornado was just a better fit for what I've been building.
Partially due to familiarity, partially due to other projects. Django will be handling the standard webapp things (registration, serving archives, etc). To be clear, there will be a lot of plain Python code handling the other aspects, with a goal being that you could relatively easily replace the Django parts with your favorite tech stack (say Flask or Tornado). Smaller parts making a greater whole.
Understandable. For us, if it were just a library or an extraction, we wouldn't be trying to fund it. However, what we're trying to build is more like an open-source product, essentially an entire service made public so anyone can use it.
Because of the time commitment involved, we're trying to fund it so we can work on it (as well as the software we'll be building on top of) full-time from the start.
However, what we're trying to build is more like an open-source product, essentially an entire service made public so anyone can use it.
I think the part of this that got me pondering is that typically a basic prototype or initial version would be open sourced, people would play with it, and then funding or sponsorship would come along. Projects like Redis, WordPress, TravisCI, jQuery, Node.js, Ruby, Phusion Passenger, and PHP come to mind.
Your approach is different in asking for money up front and then promising to open source only when the project is finished.
While it seems you are awesome guys, much loved, and do good work, it's that leap from the previously established model that gets me wondering if it's a good approach. Maybe it is and I just don't realize it yet. Maybe I'm being nostalgic. But if this project were already open sourced and you were asking for funding to make a serious go of it, it would, to me, seem an easier sell than "we want to build X, give us the $ we need, and we'll open source it when we're done."
I suspect I'm just being a bit of an old fogey, but without questions come no answers.. ;-)
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I see it more as crowd-funding (I feel dirty using that term) a useful service with the added benefit of being able to run it yourself. The goal was to spur more/better discussions (than what private chat or crappy forums currently do).
We could certainly open up the code sooner, it just won't be polished enough to use from the get-go.
Most of all, it's an experiment for us. Do other people want this service as much as we do? Is this a valid way to try to bootstrap something? Can a service 100% (K, so 95%) open-source itself & still make ends meet?
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I see it more as crowd-funding (I feel dirty using that term) a useful service with the added benefit of being able to run it yourself.
That's a better way for me to interpret it actually. I latched on to the "open source" aspect as being of utmost significance, but really it seems you are taking the well trod route of getting funding for your product - much like anyone who applies to YC or seeks investors - and the open source part is a nice big cherry on the top when you're done. Given that, your approach makes a lot more sense vs my initial "we wanna do an open source project, give us $ to start!" interpretation ;-)
Well, good luck! You have certainly picked an area of software that is crying out for better solutions.
We do most of our development in Django, so Postgres is a natural fit. Every tool has its sweet spots, so you should use the tool that best fits the task.
For instance, Postgres is great for highly structured data (say, photos on a website). Riak shines when your data flexs more & you have a lot of it (say an activity stream).
