Joomla Under Threat - Summary

Following a change in policy by Joomla core developers in which commercial Joomla components are now deemed unwanted and commercial developers are in need of re-education to bring them into compliance I have decided to stand by my fellow third party developers and as a show of solidarity to remove from distribution my main Joomla component - Amazon Products Feed Bridge.

I hope that this gesture will raise awareness of he concerns of commercial developers - and educate Joomla end users of where and how their Joomla add-ons come into being and how this process (which has been remarkably successful up to now) is under threat.

Wish to go to my normal home page 

Joomla Under Threat - The Unabridged Version 

Although my Joomla component APF Bridge (and my other minor dabblings) are released under a GPL license I consider myself a commercial developer. I certainly make a living in, on and around Joomla and feel that this is enabled by the presence of commercial development within the JoomlaSphere. A large proportion of free(no charge) and GPL components are provided by commercial developers, the forums are littered with posts from those of us with commercial interests.

Our customers become Joomla users - acting on our advice. Over at JoomlaShack, on my APF Bridge component site and here on my main Joomla Consultancy site I offer help and advice to Joomla users - whether they are our customers or not. I often go that extra mile in an effort to 'give back' to the Joomla community.

I am PERSONALLY OFFENDED by recent discussions from Joomla Core Team members that insinuate that commercial developers en mass do not give back or do not contribute enough to the project. This is patently untrue of the vast majority of us and vague references which tar us all with the same brush show a lack of respect for the vast majority of us.

Following the recent announcement ( claiming all third party developed components are by definition GPL - where otherwise no such claim was made and in fact advice to the contrary was the norm) and about the Joomla team wishing to enforce GPL and 'encourage' developers to 'comply' -  I remain unconvinced that the so called Open Source Business Models proposed (donation, selling documentation, paid support, etc) offer a developer a viable means of recouping his or her investment - in terms of time, skills and opportunity cost (earnings that could be generated elsewhere).

There have been long running discussions now for almost two months about the licensing issue - but these are in an obscure forum not frequented by the masses. Again the tone of many of these threads shows a lack of respect - the decision appears to have been made long ago by a clique at the top - they set out to find legal advice backing their position (lo and behold their lawyers told them what they wanted to hear) and here is little chance of any movement on their side of the fence.

I feel that:

• Joomla has pulled a bait-and-switch manoeuvre on commercial third party developers
• Joomla is NOT responsive to its community (communities)
• Joomla is making decisions based on DOGMA not rational analysis of what is best for Joomla
  
• and that there is a strong anti-business movement at the top.

I sincerely hope that they (OSM and the Joomla core) reconsider their position. Until they do so I am standing squarely by my fellow professionals.

As part of this show of solidarity I am therefore removing the APF Bridge Component, modules and mambot from distribution while I assess my future.  In this time I hope that anyone wishing to acquire the component takes note - my action is only the drip that could turn into a trickle and then a flood as commercial developers head away from Joomla.

People have to realise that without commercial third party developers much of what Joomla has become would not have been possible.

Wake up and smell the coffee. This is the real world.

Third Party developers deserve a living too.

 Thank you for your understanding - now please enjoy my site as normal