Why do I see this message?

christianreiss

This version is not bundled with any support nor updates. Use it with caution. Why do I see this message?

When you click the link, you get a lengthy explanation on why enterprise users should pay. And how they can not be differentiated from homelab users. I get it.

But it does not answer the question why do I see this message? And it's not only there. It's also an annoying pop up. Then warning signs next to all servers. And also a "No Support" in the left hand menu. I could not push in any more annoyances If i tried.

Please understand me: I do get it. But consider these points:

Customer users who have their own IT and can self-host are not scared of this. They either pay because they need the support or they can fix their issues themselves.
It's your open source product and you need to make money, So you need to raise awareness. But consider all the open source projects that you rely on would show banners. From the Linux Kernel to the Apache Webserver (or nginx), to all the GNU/Linux stuff. They don't. And yet survive.

Even if you are yet still convinced you do need this because this give your the customers to make that more revenue; okay. But I disagree with

"However, there's no way to discriminate if this "from the sources" version is used by a company or an individual.". No? There is no technical way to do this? You supply a whole supervisor with an entire Web-Gui and you find no way of doing this? What about a "I have ready and understood this. Don't show this messages anymore." checkbox? What about, in docker, setting an ENV to homeuse=true. Or give our Home Server licenses. This is just of the top of my hat.
"So as a home user, just ignore it." - It is too annoying to ignore. Hence this lengthy post. This many warnings all around the place is just plain annoying.

Don't get me wrong. I Love XCP-NG. I have been using XenServer from 5.x when you needed a free license. I went with you when you forked and I am playing missionary everywhere. XCP-NG is all around me, my friends and some companies (that I do not run).

Thank you for all.
-Chris.

olivierlambert

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback. I can tell you our metrics are showing entirely otherwise. Those message are important and bring many companies to realize they don't have support for XCP-ng. We have many of them now coming since they are seeing their "not supported XCP-ng host".

Also, we aren't Apache or Nginx in terms of pouplarity (by the way, Nginx model is Open Core, not Open Source, so it's not relevant. If we had been Open Core, we wouldn't have those message because we would make more money). With some critical mass, things are different.

But anyway, for now the choice is either having those messages or going Open Core. I don't want to go on Open Core model, even if it's easier in terms of business. So this is the "moral contract": you ignore those messages and enjoy all features for free the way you want

edit : and if you have an idea on how to discriminate in an accurate manner a company usage vs a homelab, I would be delighted

lawrencesystems

@olivierlambert

I work with enterprise companies and they NEED those reminders to let them know they should be using the supported version. I don't really see them as annoying at all.

planedrop

If I'm being honest here I don't really find the messages as annoying as you are making them out to be. Sure if I had a choice I would want them gone, but it's really not a big deal, 1-2 clicks and they are gone until the next time I login. I also kinda like the reminder on the sidebar about no support, helps me remember that A. I'm in my lab environment and B. I'm using a from the sources version so I need to manually do updates etc.....