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Chevereto should move to a licensing scheme this year.

This is not going to be popular from the users' point of view. But, this is something that I feel that should from the development side, from a business perspective and one that will support the development of Chevereto. Chevereto only has 6,000 paying users, and this number doesn't grow at a fast rate. These are all one time payment fees.

One: Chevereto's next big version .20 and .3 and .4 should be combined to make v4.
By branding this as v4 it opens up the licensing already discussed and announced years ago about v4 being it's own licensing scheme. Perhaps toss in another one or two of the more "bigger" requested features.

Two: Chevereto should release v4 this year.
The current versioning is great.

Three: Make the "current" v4, v5.
The "current" v4 being worked on, seems to be "years" away and it's hard to develop it while keeping interest in current v3. So the thing with v4, push this to v5. The v4 announcement came way too soon, and it made way too many users decide to not buy the script or just constantly ask about it which has become a sore point.

Four: Change the initial licensing costs
New users buying Core should pay around $60. The network should be at least $150. It shouldn't be cheaper to run two sites on the network, but once you start doing 3+ it should scale cheaper.

Five: 1 year of free updates
For the initial purchase of licensing, you should get 1 year of free updates.

Six: Include support in the licensing costs, for the first year
The big other software brands already do this. For that initial "purchase" include 6 months of ticket support others do first year, first year is more common.

Seven: Yearly Renewal Fees to get more updates & support
Chevereto should charge yearly renewal fees to get new updates. These are typically 25%-40% of the original purchase cost. Xenforo is 28%, IPB is around 40%, and most are in between them. This for Chevereto should be around the 40-50% mark, as it is a unique software. So perhaps, $20 or $25 or even $30 to renew a core license for 1 year, and a network should be at least $60 to renew for 1 year. Only those who pay for the renewal is entitled to the software updates, etc.

Eight: Release some "addons".
Addons developed by the developers of the software usually have a hefty additional licensing tag, such as $20-$60. I know this is the plan for the current v4, but it is still relevant. Bigger things like "content tags" could easily be an addon I'd pay $20-$40 just to have. Seriously considering raising the funds to pay for the sponsored development of it. An "invite-only" system is another that can easily go for $15-$20. Software addons usually have like a $5 or so yearly licensing fee to buy updates for another year.

Nine: White Label
One time fee. But, not too outrageously priced. Xenforo/IPB/vBulletin of which people love to "Refer" to for licensing, all have this as a one time fee, around $150 as a "one time" "forever" fee.
 
(1) (2) (3): I do agree that introducing an upgrade here on V3.20 as V4 could be a great move and I will love to see it happen. The updates are really massive, I think that is totally justified to seriously consider this versioning proposal. I take from granted that this upgrade will be paid, isn't? Want to also name that price?

(4) I'm one step further already, check my previous announcement.

(5) Fair.

(6) Feasible, if managed properly.

(7) Agree.

(8) I can't release addons for V3. There's a technical limitation there that can't be erased by just naming a version number. That's only feasible in V4 (or V5 if I take that route).

(9) I will prefer to keep considering that as not an option unless is a recurring fee. I'm sorry, but we need exposure. One day you will understand it, and you will appreciate my courage in this direction.
 
1, 2, 3. Yes. Paid upgrade to v4. The entire point of rebranding it as v4 is to create cash infusion during this lull of development you have, so you can continue investing time in developing Chevereto to making it better. I know back on Apr 26th you said you intended on charging a low fee. I like the escalation you listed in #4 which is a great and long overdue progressive in price increases for Chevereto. Perhaps at the $39 price point around there? It's enough to give you some cash infusion ASAP so you can continue developing and affording the cost of living. Or how about a staggered upgrade pricing? Such as
DateCore Upgrade to v4Network Upgrade to v4
Pre-Sale$39$59
Months 1 - 2 after release$49$69
Months 3 - 5 after release$59$79
Months 6 +Too late, Full CostToo late, Full Cost

4 I think that pricing progression is perfect and very clear.

5 & 6 I based the word "ticket support" off of your current support pricing and list, since you have 4 levels of support (community support, ticket support, on-site support, and extended support.) I think your current support tier is on point and perhaps a bit too generous to network licenses, I would guess that those that have a network license would already be aware of how servers work.

8 I understand, at the very least I think you should get the new licensing out ASAP ^

9 I will have to agree to disagree with you, as I am not a big fan of this being marked/visible. But, I would suggest at the very least maybe stick a referrer link in it like chevereto.com/?profileinstallation or something like that so you can see if anyone actually utilizes that link, so you can judge on whether or not it, is worth it, or a moot point that isn't doing anything to support Chevereto. At the very least, perhaps some sort of phasing, like for pre-existing users that already bought it early, can buy a lifetime white-label permanently, but, phase that out making it a limited-time deal or a "founder v4" license type benefit.

Edit: Just an idea maybe consider an "affiliate" scheme eventually, hey refer someone to Chevereto and get $5-$10 ACCOUNT CREDIT, not cash. Credit to be used towards the licensing
 
8 I understand, at the very least I think you should get the new licensing out ASAP ^
To make that a reality I believe that the better option is to actually label V3.20 as the "final" V3 release and start V4 with the user powered API (naming V3.30 as V4). Prior V3.20 the code isn't modernized and it will be too painful to offer supporting services for that edition, it will be better if V3.20 ships in V3.

V3.20 will arrive as expected which will extend V3 lifetime a lot, enabling a long grace period for upgrading and allowing me a saner upgrade path. You are right, I announced V4 too early, but the bright side is that we got two major releases out of this (plus our own framework, that's worth a lot of tech).

I think that the best for the project is to have this officially announced after V3.20 gets out. That way users can feel what this new releases are capable of pulling off.
 
I love whole idea of rebranding v3.30 to v4. And start offering it as major release instead of point release.
It is going to be huge improvement with major feature additions. User API alone is worth a million. I will upgrade to it instantly.
I was just wondering, if there will be a basic custom user roles with icons as well? For example, if we will be able to create a role "verified" (It can be anything, customizable by admin) with icon such as on twitter or Facebook, it will be great. It doesn't necessarily has to have any special feature. It can have same permission as a user, but users in this role will have icon in front of their names. It will be great overall for user management, and mistakenly deleting content of users who has been there since a long time or are a paying user. Additionally, it will allow users to feel elevated in role who has been with us since the beginning, or has better standing with website owner.

Most of the things ashkir has suggested seems like a great idea, and a way to move forward to a better monetization plan.

About white label, I am fine with either. ashkir's suggestion seems logical, but Rodolfo is the only person who can truly determine how much it should cost. And I for one totally agree that price should be little out of reach of most people, because if everyone are going to afford it, it will beat the whole purpose of "powered by" tab. i.e. to give exposure while forming a strong brand name of "chevereto", and minimize monopoly.

Ashkir's idea of allowing lesser price at first week or so for inner circle, or founders seems right to me as well. It can be considered if it doesn't affect the whole idea in grand scheme. I am not sure about it. So, I will not like to comment on it. I can only guess.
 
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will there be a basic custom user roles with icons as well?
You need to RFC that stuff so it doesn't get lost in a comment. It shouldn't be that hard to differentiate user / manager /admin with icons/labels so if you want it quick make it simple and strip the custom part? If plays well then we can always improve it later, that's way better as we drive features slowly as you live test it.
 
if you want it quick make it simple and strip the custom part?

Yes, I would love to test it on my own website. There should be at least 1 more role other than user because we want to differentiate normal registered users and more loyal users. Maybe we call it "verified" (but it can be anything else).
So, user / verified / manager / Admin.
  • User (no icon)
  • Verified (same permission as user but with icon)
  • Manager can have their own icon
  • Admin can have their own icon and maybe red text for username.
I will create a RFC for it. Hopefully it gets accepted by community, and we can beta test it soon.
 
I am really happy you made the decision to move to a licensing scheme and I hope it brings more income stability to allow you to continue to develop this project.
 
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