As a longtime user of UNA & Dolphin prior to that, I wanted to sound off on the recent issues regarding Modzzz & MSolutions. We have been using and relying on Dolphin (now Una) developers like AQBsoft, Modzzz & MSolutions for nearly 10 years. We've invested many thousands of dollars on their modules as well as custom work. The serious issue I see is if Una is adversarial with their main developers (Modzzz and MSolutions) then those parties will just walk away, leaving hundreds of UNA users with unsupported modules and work. We have dozens of modules from these two developers and want to know we can continue using them with UNA updates.
It would be helpful if UNA would sound off on the status of these developers and a plan to resolve them. They both have offered amazing modules that have many necessary features to a great social media website.
One possible solution. If either Modzzz or MSolutions are not welcome back or not interested in moving forward supporting the UNA platform I would strongly suggest UNA offer to acquire all rights and control to their module library. Have AQBSoft take over and integrate them into custom offerings or make much of them standard in UNA platform.
We await some input and insight on UNA's plans moving forward with or without these two amazing developers.
Thank you for your suggestions. We will try to work it out with the vendors - it can be difficult in situations when there're two sides to each story and we have limited resources to arbitrage. Taking over 3rd-party developer's apps is rarely a good idea, mostly due to differences in coding patterns, so the best solution is to try and bring back the original vendor.
@Andrey Yasko ,
Differences in coding patterns, yes. That is a major issue. There is also the factor of loss of interest for whatever reason, where a vendor just quits and won't update or upgrade the module. What happens is that the system becomes incompatible, leaving one hanging dry.
This is why I had to make a hard decision to not purchase any third party modules, no matter how useful they are.
The Internet is constantly shifting too, something which is beyond the control of UNA or any other software vendor. That means changes must be made once the main developers decide to move with the time, and there is no guarantee that third party systems will readily move along.
E
We've purchased a variety of modules from AQBsoft and Modzzz that serve the same purpose such as the points or news modules. But there are quite a few modules the fulfil functionalities only available from developers like Modzzz and MSolutions.
I agree we need a level of commitment so, as clients, we feel comfortable purchasing and incorporating paid modules into our websites.
For many years the aforementioned vendors have proven to be committed to boonex & una. If that doesn't continue it would be a great loss.
For UNA's part if acquiring existing modules from them I would suggest redeveloping some of those awesome features and offering them as standard features or as add-on thru developers like AQBSoft.
K
I had a terrible experience with Expertzkris. Luckily for me I was able to file a complaint with PayPal where I won the case and money was refunded. It took some time, but things resolved.
however, I do believe that there should be more accountability by Una Team when it comes to third party mod developers so these situations don’t arise.
K
Because of this, I’ve chosen not to purchase third party mods since. I’m exploring options because this path severely limits the potential growth of my site regarding features, etc.
I've purchased some 3rd party apps and it's definitely occurred to me that 3rd party vendors may one day lose their interest in continuing to develop / update their apps and leave me hanging. I'm at the early stages of experimenting with my site so having this apps can give me insights as to what to ask for and/or ask for tweaks if I should encourage UNACMS to create a similar app when / if there is a void.
S
For us it is a nightmare if we can't rely on modules being maintained, developers suddenly disappearing and not delivering. Definately a solution is needed for this urgently.
UNA simply needs a dedicated team to making similar apps or developers that would have incentives to stay, etc. If UNA hired developers that wrote apps that would not only be the easiest fix, but the most stable fix as well. Not only would they be updatable through market but also stable and version updates/upgrades would definitely become more reliable and easier without worry of developers walking away or abandoning or even complaints on an app.
My other sites have this in place already and boy let me tell you. Its amazing to know that not only the script is written by the same people that write my apps, but the stability is beyond perfect.
Allowing to many hands in to a backend can seriously cause grief if your not careful and can't trust strangers to work on your site.
I've been struggling with Modzzz since around 2021. In most cases, I experienced mockery and ignorance, so I had to learn to update his simpler modules on my own. Those who sell modules to users should have their identities verified, as otherwise, they can pretend to be anyone using fake emails created solely to avoid facing the consequences of their negligence and lax approach. Now, I only get modules from AQB because their members are part of the UNA team, they respond relatively quickly when there is a problem, and I trust they won’t disappear into obscurity.