MindTouch Combines Software Upgrade, Saving Penguins
MindTouch has a unique offer – upgrade from an open source to commercial version of the company’s Deki wiki, and they’ll adopt an emperor penguin through the World Wildlife Fund:
What’s really neat about this time of year is that people are wrapping up the year and bringing out their giving spirit – let’s not forget to include our precious endangered species on our list. So this year MindTouch will donate and adopt, from the World Wildlife Fund, an emperor penguin in your company’s name when you upgrade to MindTouch Standard or Enterprise license from an existing Deki Open Source installation.
My question is whether people using the Open Source version of Deki would be likely to convert to a commercial license, or are those using open source licenses the type of organizations that rely on open source licenses because they’re free – open source projects, non-profits, etc?
Do people often start out with an open source version as a way to try Deki before they buy? I’d love to know more about this, so if you’re a MindTouch customer (or employee), please chime in and let us know. Either way, I think this is a great idea, and perhaps something that commercial customers might be interested in too…
Emperor Penguin photo courtesy Guillaume Dargaud.
Aaron Fulkerson says:
Dec 23rd, 2008
Hi Stewart,
It’s been a while since we’ve bumped into each other. I hope you’re well.
Yes, MindTouch open source users regularly upgrade to the commercial version of MindTouch Deki. This is for various reasons:
1). desire support
2). stable build
3). additional functionality
Not necessarily in that order. To my knowledge MindTouch has helped save, at least, 6 penguins since we started the adoption program last week.
More information on commercial vs. open source products: http://mindtouch.com/Products
Stewart Mader says:
Dec 23rd, 2008
@Aaron – Yes, it’s been a while – too long, in fact. I hope you’re well
That’s good to hear – I think it’s good when people have an opportunity to really “try before they buy” on a meaningful level, and the availability of open source does just that, and the reasons for upgrading make sense.
I’ll bet those 6 penguins are mighty happy these days, too.
Keep me posted – you guys are doing great things!
Stewart
Christian Bering says:
Dec 29th, 2008
At my company we’re running a pilot to test out using wikis, as a concept. We chose to run the pilot on Deki Wiki specifically because it was easy to download and install (VM ware image). Once the pilot is done, we have to choose how to proceed. If we end up choosing Deki Wiki we’ll definitely be upgrading to a commercial license, to get support and other things included.
lars says:
Jan 23rd, 2009
same here basically. we started with the vm because it made it so easy, now we want to procede and use this software it only makes sense to pay for this great software and to ensure that new versions gets made