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> We will create a self-hosted device with Western Digital hardware and ownCloud software, to be made available for on-line purchase in early 2016. In preparati

by Shank 11y ago

> We will create a self-hosted device with Western Digital hardware and ownCloud software, to be made available for on-line purchase in early 2016. In preparation for this we’re looking for people who want to help us lower the barrier to self hosting and help turn this dream into reality. Maybe I'm being cynical, but the way the first paragraph is worded seems a bit odd. Is the goal of this project to act like free R & D for ways to deploy this or make it compartmentalized? It seems like it. Why would you send 10 developer units out, require proposals, etc.? No compensation is offered -- just a devkit. > This is where you come in! We’re looking for concrete proposals and offers for help. Can you build a disk image which boots up and allows a laptop to find it over the local network? Can you create a setup optimized for performance on the Pi? Can you write a simple web interface to finish configuring the Pi or to check how it is running? Develop a backup tool? We’re looking for creativity here! Fantastic, that sounds a lot like crowdsourcing your product development. > Sometime in February or March you can expect ownCloud and Western Digital Labs to release a goodie – and you will be there with a big thank-you in the manual! A thank-you in the manual. My goodness! > This is a project of the ownCloud community, not ownCloud, Inc. But who's going to be shipping the final product, with the fixes that someone makes, and gets the thank-you in the manual? The ownCloud community?

jospoortvliet 11y ago
We're an open source project, remember. 'product development' happens in the open. ownCloud, Inc. is not involved other than allowing some of their employees (me incluis) to spend some time on this, even though it isn't interesting for customers at all. See http://blog.jospoortvliet.com/2015/12/western-digital-labs-and-owncloud.html http://blog.jospoortvliet.com/2015/12/western-digital-labs-a... so, on your last point: yes. As in - WD will ship the hardware, and the software comes from volunteers - or not at all. IF this turns out successful (as in, the first batch of devices has great software and sells out in 2 weeks so a second, much bigger batch is made) we'll talk to WD about sharing some of their profit with the community. Until then, there is only costs for all involved and we're not asking for financial donations to cover that. Isn't that cool?

by Shank 11y ago

jospoortvliet 11y ago

We're an open source project, remember. 'product development' happens in the open. ownCloud, Inc. is not involved other than allowing some of their employees (me incluis) to spend some time on this, even though it isn't interesting for customers at all. See http://blog.jospoortvliet.com/2015/12/western-digital-labs-and-owncloud.html http://blog.jospoortvliet.com/2015/12/western-digital-labs-a... so, on your last point: yes. As in - WD will ship the hardware, and the software comes from volunteers - or not at all. IF this turns out successful (as in, the first batch of devices has great software and sells out in 2 weeks so a second, much bigger batch is made) we'll talk to WD about sharing some of their profit with the community. Until then, there is only costs for all involved and we're not asking for financial donations to cover that. Isn't that cool?