
OwnCloud Statement concerning the formation of Nextcloud - mike-cardwell
https://owncloud.com/owncloud-statement-concerning-formation-nextcloud-frank-karlitschek/
======
NikolaNovak
I have rarely seen an instance of open source project forking which
immediately causes loss of employment of eight members of original team.

I _have_ seen such forks degenerate hugely into "they said / we promised /
they suck / we're awesome", so I understand the need to delicately balance
press releases between the need to inform and need to keep it
civil/diplomatic, but I wish I understood more why the act of forking has
caused their credit to disappear.

    
    
      Unfortunately, the announcement has consequences for ownCloud, Inc. based in Lexington, MA. 
      Our main lenders in the US have cancelled our credit.
      Following American law, we are forced to close the doors of ownCloud, Inc. 
      with immediate effect and terminate the contracts of 8 employees."

~~~
mike-cardwell
In the first sentence they sound very bitter: "using recently poached
developers" \- Almost as if they're trying to say that poaching developers is
a bad thing. Developers are people, you don't own them and they owe you zero
allegiance.

~~~
LukasReschke
Actually, I should add that to my CV "poached developer" ;-)

\- Lukas (Nextcloud'er - see also [http://www.zdnet.com/article/owncloud-
founder-forks-popular-...](http://www.zdnet.com/article/owncloud-founder-
forks-popular-open-source-cloud/))

~~~
mike-cardwell
Whilst I have your attention ;) Are there any plans to add CalDav/iCal client
functionality to NextCloud? I'd like my NextCloud server to sync with external
calendars (E.g my work Google calendar) so that I only have to point my client
devices at my own server.

~~~
StavrosK
I strongly recommend radicale with DavDroid. I've been using this set up (that
only took a few minutes to complete, especially with Caddy for TLS) for months
now with great success.

Radicale will also automatically commit every change into a Git repo, so you
can always go back to any point in time. Just amazing.

[https://www.stavros.io/posts/private-contacts-and-
calendars-...](https://www.stavros.io/posts/private-contacts-and-calendars-
android/)

~~~
mike-cardwell
Radicale sounds interesting, but it looks like it's just a CalDAV server?
OwnCloud/NextCloud already gives me that. What I'm looking for is a way of
syncing calendars which _have_ to be off-site, to my own server. I don't have
control over the fact that my company uses Google calendars for work and I'd
like to dump my Facebook events into an OwnCloud/NextCloud calendar too.

------
appleflaxen
My guess is that the governance and decision-making of owncloud inc, coupled
with commercial debt/obligations they chose to take on, made it impossible to
become commercially successful. Once the writing is on the wall for the main
devs, why stick around? You can spin the code out to an unencumbered
corporation (nextcloud), leave the debt behind you (owncloud), and start with
a clean slate and new governance model.

That could be close or far from the truth, but one thing is clear: the 8 devs
who left couldn't see a path to solvency (technical and financial) that was
reachable. The most likely reasons for this are either economic realities, or
inadequate political capital.

I hope they do better in their new positions.

------
noonespecial
Developers don't get "poached". They're not deer. The leave because something
better is offered to them. Usually much better.

There's much more to this than we know yet.

------
notacoward
Sad to hear that the US-based employees were let go. I live in Lexington, and
run by that office quite often, so it kind of hits home. Best of luck to all
of you.

~~~
jsilence
I'd prefer you'd phrase it "were laid off" or "fired" instead of "let go". The
later is an euphemism that implies some kind of free decision.

------
nkuttler
This entire thing is just bizarre, I feel like there's a lack of openness from
both sides in their communication. No side tries to inform their users about
what really happened. I guess the best case is that one side (or both) can't
talk because of legal proceedings which, again, would be strange for a more or
less open source project.

~~~
jancborchardt
Well, legal stuff and also you just don't badmouth people you worked with
until recently. It's simply not nice, and we are still friends with some of
the Inc employees.

For more info I recommend the Q&A from Frank and Jos today:
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=iMfokaX2r8g](https://youtube.com/watch?v=iMfokaX2r8g)
– we try to be as honest as we can.

Disclaimer/source: I'm one of the »poached developers«, or rather the
designer. ;)

------
mxuribe
Bizarre...seems like it was a hastily-put-together press release.

------
jwildeboer
That escalated quickly.

