As I have mentioned in earlier posts, the original coder of the Custom-Contexts module has left it orphaned. It was incompatible with FreePBX 2.7 until we were able to get some changes made. A version 0.3.6 of the module will be released shortly. This will bring it into compliance with FreePBX 2.7 and below.
Since it is known that FreePBX 2.8 and the Custom-Contexts module will not be compatible, Philippe has researched what is required to update the module. It will cost $4,000 in analysis, planning and coding to bring the module up to speed with FreePBX 2.8. This will hold it for a couple of years until FreePBX 3.0 becomes fully mature.
So many of you have said that it is vital that we keep the Custom-Contexts module alive to support business users that I hope you will all step up and make a donation. We now ask that you all put your money where your mouth is and step up.
Philippe has created a web page which allows donations of $50 up to $500 to fund this work. We will set a limit of 60 days to get sufficient funding to engage a programmer for the changes. The payments will be via PayPal and donors will be listed on the page along with progress towards the goal.
Here is the web page to make donations and check progress:
there are a few which I am posting today, unfortunately there is no way to do it automatically…
I was just hoping that other than the few of you whose names I typically immediately recognize, there would be others coming forward. Of course I understand that many users out there don’t monitor the site on a daily basis so probably need to give it at least a little time…
I would hope I am not the only one who has joined at Platinum level (pledged two $300 commitments already paid one).
With the number of people that use and request support is very high the interest in pledging funds seems low.
You wondering why attitudes develop when users demand features and don’t attempt to understand and read documentation before requesting support. This lack of financial support is exactly the reason.
Mention money and you guys run like cockroaches in a light.
If just a few of us have to pay for it then the whole community suffers.
I’ll pledge $200 out of my pocket for this project. And by purchasing from my store below, I’ll increase that amount!
If you’re interested, go to my store below…when checking out, use the coupon code “Custom” without the quotes and you’ll get an extra 10% off of your order and in addition I’ll add $10 to this project for each order using that coupon code above my $200 pledged.
kenn10, I’ll make payment Monday 5/3 for the total accumulated.
I have to admit I haven’t donated BUT that is because.
1: I don’t use the module.
2: Work uses Asterisk/FreePBX (and I have tried to get them to donate).
We switched to asterisk now about a year ago and in about 3 months we will have reached the payoff for having switched away from our proprietary rented PBX system. Unfortunately getting the company to donate money for anything tech related (the company actually gives very generously to the community we are in), is pulling teeth.
So much so that I have long come to the conclusion the only way we can support open source is through support contracts. On our PBX we currently have a support contract from the vendor who sold the physical system and installed it. I am not sure when he will say all future support is going to cost us (as I say we are hitting the year mark) and at that point I will probably explore instead giving to FreePBX (the question is will they provide a complete support package (including the distro we are running, DAHDI issues etc).
I would suggest that possibly it would be worth it to have support contracts that can optionally include some bucket of funds that is used for future development etc, that the customer can apply when they need. I could include this in support but not do it separately due to the corporate environment…
1/3 of the way there is nice but means there is a long way to go. I think the efforts that kenn10 has done to coordinate this campaign are commendable, especially given that he does not have a “for profit” business that is depending on it.
However, there are a lot of you out there who do have such a business, many of whom were quick to speak up on the other threads on this subject about the importance of this module. However, given the number of contributors it would seem that when it comes to helping to make this a reality, you are not very quick to see it happen.
If the effort of kenn10’s is going to be a success, we are going to need you to step up and “put your money where your mouth is” and help make this “campaign” a success. Remember, the rest of the software would cost you anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in a non-open-source world. Given that, even the $500 Platinum contribution level is a very small price to pay to help a component that has been deemed important to your business to move forward and continue to be available to you.
So please show kenn10 you appreciate for what he has spear headed and go visit the Custom Context bounty page to make this happen.
My firm offers exactly the type of support contract that you are describing.
When we committed to supporting Open Source Telephony that included giving back to the community.
Unfortunately we only offer these services in Northeast Ohio. If you happen to be here then providence really shined on us.
All that being said I know from the years of support I have offered to the community that many folks are making money off of this module. The face that so few have donated so little is more than a bit distressing.
Is there any way we could put together a list on the website of system dealers that actively support FreePBX. Either by donating money or time (for example Scmoozecom donates tons of time which should be enough, although they donate money as well…).
This way when purchasing we could attempt to purchase a system from those people who give back to the community.
We will look into how we might go ahead and do that.
Especially with the work on the v3 front that we want to do and the places that we will need help, it will be worth trying to create some sort of Sponsors page.
For now, I’ve published Custom Contexts with some changes that were sitting in SVN, plus added a notice posted to the Notification Panel about this current dilemma, along with a few other updates that were needed due to stale links to the old aussie web site that is no longer active.
Let’s see what sort of exposure the update process will provide since, hopefully it will alert module users who keep their systems up-to-date but don’t have time to read the forums or blogs on a regular basis.
We’ve got about 3/4 of the required funding to go. We need another $1,300 to make this happen! Please consider jumping to the web link in the first post and making your donation now!
Many, many thanks to all who have contributed so far!!!
If you want to send the contribution directly, it should be sent to paypal @ freepbx.org, or you can just wait until you get a chance to be in front of a computer.
We donated $200 but I feel bad that the project is only funded by a few.
How about only providing the “fixed” custom context module only to people that contributed to the project? That would get donations up quickly as there must be hundreds of users of this module. Make it a paid module and ask users to pay for the upgrade. That will solve the funding issue forever.
I understand where you are coming from but, no-can-do - it’s GPL.
The original author could decide to do that given that it’s 100% his code for all practical purposes, but that’s about the only one who could do something like this.
Playing in this Open Source space involves understanding the reality of the dynamics that are going to happen out there. There are hundreds of thousands of installs out that use FreePBX. A large portion of them don’t necessarily even know they are using FreePBX, most of them never even look at the FreePBX site and the one’s that do, come looking for specific information. Even on the ‘Upgrade’ front, most PBXs are installed and then ‘forgotten.’ They do not check for updates or anything.
Then amongst those who are aware, only a small percentage are going to be willing to help out in situations like this. When it comes to a module like this, you are now dealing with a very small subset of the FreePBX population because in reality, most installations either don’t have any need for it or are not sophisticated to the point of understanding that there may be things of interest that they could do with it, they are content with what they have.
Your frustrations are surely felt by many others in this space who do contribute in all their different ways but at the end, it’s the reality of the situation. On the positive side, I’m glad to see that this effort of kenn10 is well on its way. I think by shaking a few branches you’ll see the rest of it come together. I would suggest finding the threads in this and other forums that relate to this subject and either spurring them back to life and/or PMing the various parties individually to prod them along and we’ll probably see the goal met fairly soon. (The suggestion is not just for dcitelecom, it’s for any of you who feel the same way as he does…)
Thanks to all the very generous donations I see you have hit your goal! $4,000 has now been raised!
I did want to comment in response to the hole open source discussion. That while I certainly appreciate the frustration (and I didn’t donate on this simply because I don’t use the module and the company is at the best of times not into donating to these types of causes (a “charity” they’ll give to and do very generously but to appreciate that open source isn’t necessarily really giving they don’t appreciate).
However the power of open source is you guys just got together $4,000 to hopefully get the Custom-Contexts module back up to par. While many people might reap the benefit of that without having contributed they might well be contributing to other open source projects (asterisks or non-asterisk related). For example through a service contract my company does support Vyatta (an open-source router project).
All of us have our talents…