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This sort of thing is fantastic to see, regardless of whether you want to run your own mail servers for this task. That they provide a hosted service using the

This sort of thing is fantastic to see, regardless of whether you want to run your own mail servers for this task. That they provide a hosted service using the same stack is great to see: host it yourself, or pay them to host it for you. This is what great open source businesses can look like. No "open core" where the good stuff isn't available for the community, and community efforts to implement the same thing get rejected. No viral licensing like the GPL or jesus shit on a stick, the AGPL.

simonhamp 10y ago
Completely agree with this, my only concern is that an open-source solution increases the likelihood of spam-ridden senders popping up more frequently and becoming harder to shut-down as they can spin up instances more easily and get going from a new location more quickly. There is actually some benefit to be had by the process of setting up a mailing service being a little trickier. From a business perspective, it's also a great decision, as it shows customers who outgrow (or are in fear of outgrowing) your SaaS have a first-party path to scale. And you could still make money off those customers if you can offer a strong support/hosting solution. It's a massive win. As an aTech customer with some of their other products in the past, I'm really pleased to see this and I wish them all the best! Also, proud to support fellow Brit tech companies ;)
- stephenr 10y ago
  > becoming harder to shut-down as they can spin up instances more easily and get going from a new location more quickly I don't think this is going to work in their favour - spammers already have the tools they need - the real killer is blacklisted IP's/ranges. If you're legit, you can jump through some hoops if you inherit a blacklisted IP. If you're a spammer, all you can do is try to get an IP that isn't blacklisted.
smichel17 10y ago
That's some pretty strong hate for the GPL without reasoning to back it up. As a fan of the GPL/AGPL, care to elaborate?
soperj 10y ago
The reason that Linux is what it is today is the GPL. Otherwise it would be just like BSD, and bundled into the OS for worst of the worst for propriety shit, Apple.
cyphar 10y ago
> No viral licensing like the GPL or jesus shit on a stick, the AGPL. This GPL hatred is completely orthogonal to your point. In fact, GPL/AGPL ensures that other services won't turn your lovely free software project into an open core product. See ShareLatex for a similar free software business and project that uses the AGPL and appears to be working just fine.
pratik60 10y ago
The business model is very similar to Sentry. Loving it though , don't know how the internal finances team approve such changes, but wow!

simonhamp 10y ago

Completely agree with this, my only concern is that an open-source solution increases the likelihood of spam-ridden senders popping up more frequently and becoming harder to shut-down as they can spin up instances more easily and get going from a new location more quickly. There is actually some benefit to be had by the process of setting up a mailing service being a little trickier. From a business perspective, it's also a great decision, as it shows customers who outgrow (or are in fear of outgrowing) your SaaS have a first-party path to scale. And you could still make money off those customers if you can offer a strong support/hosting solution. It's a massive win. As an aTech customer with some of their other products in the past, I'm really pleased to see this and I wish them all the best! Also, proud to support fellow Brit tech companies ;)

stephenr 10y ago
> becoming harder to shut-down as they can spin up instances more easily and get going from a new location more quickly I don't think this is going to work in their favour - spammers already have the tools they need - the real killer is blacklisted IP's/ranges. If you're legit, you can jump through some hoops if you inherit a blacklisted IP. If you're a spammer, all you can do is try to get an IP that isn't blacklisted.

smichel17 10y ago

That's some pretty strong hate for the GPL without reasoning to back it up. As a fan of the GPL/AGPL, care to elaborate?

soperj 10y ago

The reason that Linux is what it is today is the GPL. Otherwise it would be just like BSD, and bundled into the OS for worst of the worst for propriety shit, Apple.

cyphar 10y ago

> No viral licensing like the GPL or jesus shit on a stick, the AGPL. This GPL hatred is completely orthogonal to your point. In fact, GPL/AGPL ensures that other services won't turn your lovely free software project into an open core product. See ShareLatex for a similar free software business and project that uses the AGPL and appears to be working just fine.

pratik60 10y ago

The business model is very similar to Sentry. Loving it though , don't know how the internal finances team approve such changes, but wow!