JC — 17:51 on 11.29.2012

Well, I left extensive comments on the blog article so I’ll try not to repeat them here. But to answer your question directly: No.

There will be a wash out of nonprofit customers. Anytime you double the price of something you lose customers. Actually, it’s a tripling since 2.x came out.

Of course, I’ve read plenty of statements about “if you can’t afford the raise in license fees then the product is wrong for you.” Well, that comes from those who don’t make a living in the nonprofit world. Don’t tell me what is right or wrong for my and my clients’ business models, thank you very much.

I started with ExpressionEngine when you could deploy Core for free, and a nonprofit license was $99. The it went up to $149 and no Core. The to $300. Once upon a time EllisLab appreciated its smaller customers, and encouraged new developers in with Core and small projects for nonprofits. We helped to drive the product’s development, and bug/feature evolution.

But it is now clear that EllisLab no longer values nonprofit customers or small projects (except for brochure-ware sites with MojoMotor, which is a nonstarter for me).

So why don’t people just acknowledge that EllisLab is washing out its small customers in favor of the larger corporate market (regardless of what Kevin and Derek have said—they’re going to lose bottom-end market share)?

It’s a refrain heard over and over again in the startup and early software business market: encourage everybody big and small to come in and help broaden the base and mindshare of a product. Then when it is on the cusp of being majorly successful, jettison the baggage (small fry developers and nonprofits) as they have become a drag (support costs) on the the bottom line.

I’m tired of hearing that because x,y, and z is good for EL and many developers that it is good for everybody. It isn’t.  Just acknowledge that, instead of pretending its win, win for everybody—it’s not.

What would make me happy? A tone from EL that wasn’t condescending, opaque and arrogant. More than anything, it is the tone that will drive me and others away. Pricing can be dealt with. Support can be managed. A company with a “vast” plan and an unwillingness to speak to it is just too much uncertainty for many of us to deal with.

What happens when the next shoe drops? And the one after that? When do surprises quit raining down from above? Will EE 3.x (when and if it ever arrives—no roadmap, so who knows???) be a viable product for our sort of agency? Or should we start spending time learning new platforms?

Judging by what I’ve been able to glean in the EE ecosystem, across blogs and twitter, is that there now is a burgeoning interest in other products. I’ll follow the brain trust of wayward EE developers on to new horizons, as they are the ones that brought EE to its present success and jumping off point (to the enterprise and bigger corporate markets).

Jez Swinscoe — 03:43 on 11.30.2012

JC is right - it’s not just the loss of non-profit licensing its the fact that these changes were so abrupt and what it tells of the future. EL seem very condescending of late and this lack of communication is turning (rapidly) into a lack of trust for us ‘the customer’. I’m more disappointed with the approach and company candour than the changes alone.

Tarquin Rees — 04:37 on 11.30.2012

I’ve got a ‘No’ here too. Taken in isolation the Ellislab line on this may well be reasonable - particularly from the pov of their bottom-line and financial situation which we are not privy to - but the issue runs deeper than that.

I read it all these changes - not just this one, and remember Derek has ominously said there will be yet more to come - as part of a shift of EE towards Enterprise (hate as well that I am now cornered into using that word for probably the first time ever in this context). Again, fair enough, it’s their company.

But the real problem is - and all the lack of communication and resistance to these changes stem from it - is that EE was never conceived as an Enterprise product and was implicitly positioned as the opposite. That’s why it built up such a committed community. No Enterprise product can do that.

EllisLab have that rarest of resources - an Apple-like following - and they seem to be, or give the impression they seem to be, abandoning that community.

That is the elephant in the room that has not been addressed by them in the ongoing dialogue. They could easily have put people’s minds at rest re this. But they haven’t yet.

Whether that is part of the lack ease of communication that seems to be part of the DNA of the company (strangely, given the loyalty of the Community) or something more ominous we have no way of knowing yet.

But for me, my fears are certainly not allayed.

James — 04:59 on 11.30.2012

I agree with you tarquin. Accompanying all of these changes is a real smug f-you type attitude. It starts with the website itself. There is no information about the product in terms of features or requirements. Just some light marketing fluff. Want to know more? F-you. Then there is the manner in which their support and licensing is communicated. I understand changes need to be made to sustain the company. And the changes don’t even bother me. It is just the way in which it has been handled. I was reading a lot of Derek’s responses to the blog posts and he was continually condescending and sarcastic to people’s concerns. Again a f-you type attitude. One of the biggest draws to ee has been the community. But with a changing perceived company attitude towards its users, that will evaporate in short order. Derek may be a brilliant programmer, but I think his people skills may need some work.

Nevsie — 07:36 on 11.30.2012

As my mood settles, i can forgo the loss of volume discounts, the loss of non-profit license, the constant blindsides that are negative towards me and my business, hell even the no support unless you give us your money ransom approach.

However, the long and the short of it was that i was already on tough ground justifying the costs of EE and all the add-ons against competition products for my smaller clients. Put short, i will not even be able to justify it. That means my time spent developing for EE will be reduced, and invested elsewhere, meaning i am more likely to stay elsewhere.

If EE is going enterprise, i assume the feature set, and quality will go up. This is a great thing for users of EE. But how many dev toes are they going to step on. Enterprise does mean support and features (quality too as i believe bugs to be a huge EE issue too).

Argle — 16:17 on 11.30.2012

I find that telling us that we get to pay more so we don’t have to worry about which license type we need, like this was such a hard thing to figure out, is quite condescending. But that’s par for the course with this company.

James — 16:41 on 11.30.2012

I agree Argle. I feel the tone coming from especially Derek (being that he is the head of the company now) is VERY condescending, snarky and sarcastic. I don’t doubt his dedication to the product or the community, but his words and actions (and methods of going about them) don’t seem to show any sensitivity or respect for the community that has made EE what it is. Without the designers and developers pushing the product to their clients they would have no business!

Samuel — 17:31 on 11.30.2012

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James — 17:45 on 11.30.2012

@samuel, I think maybe you misunderstood me. I personally don’t care about the licensing changes or the addition of paid support. I think it is more the way in which they are communicating (or not) these changes to their user base. If you read through the posts, the level of attitude that is coming from Ellis labs is very off putting. I think this attitude is really showing in the new website and way in which they went about all of their changes. It doesn’t show (at least to me) the care towards the community that they once had that attracted so many developers. I think the changes themselves are mostly welcome. I don’t think they should completely abandon their presence in the forums. They need some sort of community manager there. It is already bubbling up with spam.  I’d disagree somewhat with there not being quality problems though. I think a smooth version update has become quite a rare thing during my installs.

Seamus — 20:04 on 11.30.2012

I do think it’s reasonable. And I say that with many non-profit clients, from 2 person bootstrapped do-gooders to corporate-y, big budget causes. I think there is an often an assumption that non-profits don’t have any money. And the inverse, that for-profits do have lots of money.

This is wrong. Many non-profits are very well funded, and just as many for-profits are completely broke. The old model was confusing for people who fell in-between.

And maybe I’m not looking in the right places, but the overall tone of communications from EllisLab over the last week hasn’t struck me as particularly condescending or snarky. Personally, I’ve been more irritated by the sense of entitlement from other developers.