Long-term viability of PocketQuery (commercial)?

[Jeff Turner]

Hi,

PocketQuery looks fantastic, but I'm concerned that Scandio will lose interest and that it will stop being maintained, e.g. if the principal developer moves on. The SQL plugin is inferior in many ways, but at least I know Bob Swift/AppFire are making money off it, and so have an incentive to keep it alive.

Can someone from Scandio comment? Will PocketQuery still be around in 5 years time?

[Felix Grund (Scandio) · Accepted solution]

Hi Jeff,

Interesting question. I'd state here that there aren't any plans to make PocketQuery commercial and we would like to push onwards the "free character" of the add-on. We at Scandio have been maintaining the add-on for more than 3 years now and we will definitely do so for the next years. Regarding your topic "principal developer": I'd consider this myself and I could say for sure that there are many other very capable Confluence developers here at Scandio who could maintain and improve PocketQuery just the same. Which doesn't mean I'm planning to move.... I must honestly say, however, that you never really know what will be in five years time - no matter if the add-on is free or commercial.

Is this sufficient for you?

Regards, Felix (Scandio)

[Jeff Turner]

Thanks for the answer Felix. In that case I'd suggest Scandio consider either open-source Pocket Query, or take it commercial. Open source for preference, but either way would be good.

Consider: SQL for Confluence is the forth-most popular Confluence plugin (see my own analysis here), the second only to Gliffy in adding serious functionality. It's been around forever, and many companies, including Atlassian, have built extensive internal reports using it. As a consultant I consider it indispensable.

Pocket Query is in many ways, even better than SQL for Confluence, except for that one critical aspect of long-term viability.

Building a plugin is fun. Maintaining a plugin and dealing with bug reports for 2, 5, 10 years is not so fun. You/Scandio really ought to be getting paid for that, and it would make us users happier to know Scandio has some financial incentive to keep things going.

Or alternatively, open source, so that myself any developer (even you, post-Scandio) can take on maintenance as needed. I'd be happy to help with legwork such as setting up websites, bug trackers and mailing lists.

Regards,
Jeff

[Jambit Sysadmin]

Seconded, we at jambit would be glad to contribute, since we're using PQ to integrate Confluence with our ERP.

Gabor

[Jeff Turner]

I note that in January 2017, PocketQuery went commercial. Good luck! 

[Felix Grund (Scandio)]

Yes that's true! Thanks Jeff!