Ops for no code? Idea Validation -> Roast this so I don't have to build it! :)
Problem:
- There are amazing, free, self-hosted products on GitHub that no-coders do not have access to (they require knowledge of how to deploy code onto AWS / GCP / etc).
Solution:
- A platform to allow anyone to browse and launch open source tools so they can use them.
- No-Coders would have a whole new world of tools opened up to them.
Examples:
- node red (rules engine) (https://nodered.org/)
- n8n.io (workflow automation)
- MySQL admin (https://github.com/simov/express-admin)
- MongoDB admin (https://github.com/mrvautin/adminMongo)
Do you hate this idea? Love it? Would you pay for it?
Please please poke holes so I don't build another thing nobody wants :)
Hugs,
AP
I've thought about this too! And agree that there's potential, as there are tonnes of great OSS initiatives. Here are my thoughts/research I've done:
I love the idea. But my personal take away from research I did months ago posed some big questions. Maybe things have changed, I stand to be corrected!
You ask some important questions. Yes I've known about Bitnami for a long time. This idea may even be "Bitnami for nocoders"!
I agree that support will linearly grow with the product offering (unless, after some time, I can convince devs to write deployment code for the platform and share revenue with them)
I think at the beginning we won't be the support for the code, that should happen on the github issues page for the project.
That being said, I think I'll have to really limit who is allowed in at first. Probably devs who are interested in no-code or someone that's decent at bubble / zapier already.
The complete noobs to nocode are going to be the least likely to pay and the ones with the most questions.
Depends who are you targeting. Lots of NoCode folks I see in the community do not even know what ops / devops or database is :) Also big proportion of Webflow users are designers. So it depends...
The target would be the self identified "nocoders". Probably first those hardcore bubble and zapier users and then maybe move down the knowledge stack.
But reading this gave me the scaries, I might be up to my ears in support requests if I do this :/
I like it.
Probably going to be an issue with deploying a code base that isn't production ready.
Expect mucho support requests for code bases you're not familiar with.
Maybe theres a reason this code hasn't been rolled out yet ?
On the other hand you could go through git yourself and find some production ready gems.
Then offer to roll it out to businesses on a case by case basis. While offering training and support.
Might be an underserved niche perhaps ?
Also most premium wordpress plugins are either hosted on git or svn under the gpl license. What about selling them with training and support for enterprise clients?
If that's possible ?
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree, support burden may be large, but could potentially be passed on to the repo owner.
I wasn't clear in the post but wordpress plugins would not be on a list of things to deploy. i dont think that would be possible.
I'm thinking more like stand alone self hosted apps
Afaik the GPL has never been tested properly in court.
But it's a very permissive license.
Anything that touches/integrates with wordpress must be under the GPL license.
And since 35% or so sites run wp. There might be an opportunity there. Maybe.
thanks!