One thing that has caught me out is that these add on apps are often marketed as if they come from an established company but actually there is just one guy.
I have lately had a developer tell me that he couldn't get on the net for 5 days!!!!!. This caused me to be annoyed as I am unashamedly building a commercial site and have to answer to my fellow directors.
Perhaps it would be fairer to these guys if it was made plain that they are promoting the apps as a part time addition to another income see more or at least that they are working within the community as community members rather than real businesses or that they are businesses and act as such offering proper customer care and product support in a timely fashion.
It is a shame because this particular person is 99% on the way to producing a great addition to the Boonex software but we have now fallen out as I dealt with him/her as if they were an established business. The 1% of their code that doesn't work is a real pain and has to be fixed. I hope to be mending bridges soon.
There is a confusion between a genuine and commited community working together to produce easily the most exciting community building software in the world and the appearance of it being a business.
I personally have parted with over 2000$ so far and have only just begun to realise that it is more community than business but 2000 bucks is still 2k and so I feel like a customer more than a community member.
I think this is a very important area of confusion. This is free community software one minute and a commercial business the next.
Putting in a ticket for a Dolphin problem when the app in question was bought through the Boonex website and being told that your 1000$s plus free no-hassle start up problem-solving that you purchased with your Prime licence actually doesn't even get a look at is disappointing especially as some of the people that you buy the app from are answering the tickets!!!
That's my insight as a relatively new and devoted Boonexer
It is good to see that this debate is at the real core of an area of great concern for those of us who wish to have Dolphin 7 and the improvements available in Market available so we can build websites that will make a significant impact on the www.
AB definitely on the right track with this one.....If it is sold through Boonex it has to meet certain basic standards that are compatable with the main D7 software. Otherwise they are dragging the rest of the software down. houstonlively..always on track and right on the money...keep it up!!! Thanks... ramble over.