Which alternative do you consider ?

[CBlade]

Oh, and while we're at it, I think it's a good idea to star, watch, and fork the repos HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, in case anything happens to them. You'll need to reference some of that material while developing your own stuff considering we're all on our own now and 3rd party developers are effectively locked out a/o 4.6.0+, meaning, interest from third party developers is going to shrivel up and die since HostBill is now officially a dwindling market with diminishing returns available ONLY from people who owned their licenses prior to 4.6.0.

At the very least, if you don't want to fork/clone the repos above, then watch the these two below:

https://github.com/krispajak

https://github.com/hostbill

You might need them for your own devel needs now that there's not going to be any further support there and we're all on our own on that front.

And you might want to watch these, or fork the two pages of these others too: http://dblpl.us/3e8343

Kris removed everything, he surely watching us...

[electric]

HostBill will remain my personal choice until (if) things get really bad, ....

What do you define as "really bad"? 

Imho, software produced by a company that is run by a person with zero business skill would be the very definition of "very bad", regardless of how nice the software might be.    Remember, we're talking about software that is at the very heart of your business... handling billing, customer management & support, etc...

I think for some people the definition of "really bad" is probably more like "too late" or "I should have switched a long time ago".

[tallship]

Kris removed everything, he surely watching us...

Not to worry. That's the beauty of open source. As well as the pitfalls of opening your mouth and saying something stupid - once those words escape you can't take 'em back. They're out there

It's all still there... or rather, HERE

Now, for most of the rest of us here, this is still relevant, and useful data that we can use, and are entitled to. In your case, however (and I'm not a lawyer), but I don't think think you would be entitled to use any of that information there in so far as incorporating it into your website is concerned if you're a post 4.6.0 customer.

[John]

Not to worry. That's the beauty of open source. As well as the pitfalls of opening your mouth and saying something stupid - once those words escape you can't take 'em back. They're out there

It's all still there... or rather, HERE

Now, for most of the rest of us here, this is still relevant, and useful data that we can use, and are entitled to. In your case, however (and I'm not a lawyer), but I don't think think you would be entitled to use any of that information there in so far as incorporating it into your website is concerned if you're a post 4.6.0 customer.

Awesome! Thanks for doing that! 

[Lawrence]

What do you define as "really bad"? 

Imho, software produced by a company that is run by a person with zero business skill would be the very definition of "very bad", regardless of how nice the software might be.    Remember, we're talking about software that is at the very heart of your business... handling billing, customer management & support, etc...

I think for some people the definition of "really bad" is probably more like "too late" or "I should have switched a long time ago".

HostBill for the most part serves my needs. This is simply my perspective, I'm not affected as much as the new clients are (Those that sign up after May 26th), or the bigger businesses that use HostBill.

I still have access to updates, Kris is honoring my license, as most others' licenses, and yes, developers are heavily restricted now, but my needs are being met. I'm just a freelancer after all. I'm sure however that the big businesses are extremely affected.

So to answer your question, by Real Bad I mean my install would have to be crippled to the point where it's completely unusable or Kris goes out of business. I have a bailout plan should the worse situation occur, but until then I'm in a tight position. I wish the same could be said for everyone else, but everyone's situation is different. I feel bad for those affected.

[Patrick]

HostBill for the most part serves my needs. This is simply my perspective, I'm not affected as much as the new clients are (Those that sign up after May 26th), or the bigger businesses that use HostBill.

I still have access to updates, Kris is honoring my license, as most others' licenses, and yes, developers are heavily restricted now, but my needs are being met. I'm just a freelancer after all. I'm sure however that the big businesses are extremely affected.

So to answer your question, by Real Bad I mean my install would have to be crippled to the point where it's completely unusable or Kris goes out of business. I have a bailout plan should the worse situation occur, but until then I'm in a tight position. I wish the same could be said for everyone else, but everyone's situation is different. I feel bad for those affected.

This is why we're only preparing an exit strategy.  I still truly enjoy using Hostbill.  There are a few bugs for what we use, but nothing even remotely crippling.  Only thing i'm upset about is the vmware 5 module, otherwise thankfully we were in early enough to gain access to what is now $3,000+ in features.  Not sure if i feel lucky or sorry for new customers.  Unless they do something incredibly stupid, i have no plans to leave yet.  Even then, i'll continue using it for a new venture since i do really like it.

[Cloudrck]

I'm talking to Blesta right now. Now I just need to get rid of this Hostbill license

[Patrick]

I'm talking to Blesta right now. Now I just need to get rid of this Hostbill license

If you're just looking to get rid of it, i'll gladly help with that.  Donations welcome

[Lawrence]

If you're just looking to get rid of it, i'll gladly help with that.  Donations welcome

Hah! Sorry, I thought that was cute. (No more off topic responses from me) 

P.S.

< ---------------- Donations welcome?

[thetrusteeco]

I also still like (love) HostBill more than the alternates I've tried, but am preparing an exit strategy, and will probably be gone within a year.  There are too many small infuriating bugs. These are small things that should have been fixed long ago. 

Honestly even those bugs would be acceptable if it wasn't for KBKP's bizarre changes to everything all the time.  I actually am looking for (and expecting) changes to KBKP's policies more often than I check the weather.  HostBill is brilliant but... I don't need this stress; it's not what I paid for.

I would stay if (doubt KBKP cares):
1) Fix the WHOIS issues that result in "Supplied TLD is incorrect" and "Not Available" (this is so basic!)
2) KBKP opens up development to 3rd Parties (KBKP cannot make every app required by everyone)
3) Allow non-HostBill owners to report bugs!!! (localhost.re should never happen!)
4) Start communicating pro-actively with HostBill owners.  We'd be less surprised by their erratic policy shifts if they just said: "Here's what we're doing."  If you don't want to talk to us here, at least post something in your blog before making the update.

I guess there are 100 other bugs I could complain about, but I could live with them.

Regarding the WHOIS issue, I get that if HostBill doesn't know which WHOIS database to query it defaults to "Supplied TLD is incorrect" but it should default to "WHOIS Server not available, we will try to register the domain for you" and then allow the customer to register the domain (WHMCS just defaults to "available" which can be confusing to the customer when it isn't available).  How is HostBill going to deal with the 1000s of new TLDs?

[thetrusteeco]

I'm talking to Blesta right now. Now I just need to get rid of this Hostbill license

I assume you're trying to sell it.  How much do you want for it?

I think there should be a demo HostBill for prospective customers.

Not sure if KBKP would go for either the transfer or the demo, but I do think there should be one.

[Lawrence]

I assume you're trying to sell it.  How much do you want for it?

I think there should be a demo HostBill for prospective customers.

Not sure if KBKP would go for either the transfer or the demo, but I do think there should be one.

It's not permitted, and HostBill will suspend any and all licenses that're sold by users unless expressly permitted by Kris / HostBill.

[Patrick]

It's not permitted, and HostBill will suspend any and all licenses that're sold by users unless expressly permitted by Kris / HostBill.

Some have had success on WHT selling their licenses legitimately.  Bringing it up to them may have them consider it.

[Lawrence]

Some have had success on WHT selling their licenses legitimately.  Bringing it up to them may have them consider it.

I'm aware of this, but again at the current stage it would have to go through Kris / HostBill.

[thetrusteeco]

Yeah, I figured we'd have to get KBKP to sign-off on it, but it seems like something that would be to their benefit.

I don't like all of the changes that KBKP has done in the past week, but they're obviously re-tooling HostBill and plan to continue developing the platform.  While the new system may not work for me, and I am looking elsewhere, it will probably work for others. Some might even like the changes.

However, even if it doesn't work for anyone, it's best they know what they're buying before they buy it.  They have no idea why we're all so cranky unless they read through hundreds of post.  What's better for KBKP:
1) New Customer demanding a refund (using rude language, threatening a Charge-Back, or worse, expecting Support)?
2) Never having that new customer buying the Product because s/he tried the demo and didn't like it.

Personally, I think an active demo is the best sales-tool in KBKP's arsenal. Especially if there is no official pre-sales.