Jetpack - does it make developers angry?

[chipbennett]

I'm a bit confused how we went from 'I ran Hostgator's 1-click installer, which included Jetpack' to 'Automattic got Hostgator to include Jetpack on their 1-click installer.'

Is there any basis for that one? It could just be coincidence.

Actually, they've readily admitted that they're partnering with certain hosts, to include JetPack in the hosts' 1-click installer for WordPress.

(But, as I said previously: there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.)

As for support: perhaps the hosts themselves should start to be held more accountable for providing support, if they're touting their 1-click install "feature"?

[greenshady]

Where I have a problem with this is with the name. When WordPress, as an open source platform users can download and install, differs from WordPress, a hosted solution offered by wordpress.com, differs from WordPress, a one-click install on certain hosts, it causes confusion. If someone does a 1-click install then later decides to use a wordpress.org package, they get two different things. This has been a major issue for some GPL software over the years. 1-click installs via Fantastico are often customised packages of the downloadable code. This is permitted under the GPL and there's nothing wrong with it - until an enduser hits a problem. Then you have people seeking support for WordPress 3.1.1 and the community offering support - but the WP3.1.1 isn't necessarily the same thing.

I have no issue with Automattic packaging up a different product for hosts. I have no problem with Fantastico (or any other hosts auto-install packager) offering software that is different out-of-the-box to the version people can download. I have real problems with the confusion this causes endusers.

There needs to be a new section started on the wordpress.org forums, to try and direct users of the 1-click installs into one area. If people have to preface each post offering support with, "did you download from wordpress.org or did you do a 1-click install" they soon get fed up with trying to support anyone. In the end, everybody suffers.

The only way to prevent this kind of confusion and the problems it causes is to use names that are unique to each package.

Is this the type of confusion you speak of?

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/p...n#post-2063587

I just came across this support topic about five minutes after reading your post here. :)

[Elpie]

Yes. That one was pretty easy to spot though. Just wait till the forum fills up with xyz broken, this happening, this not working... blah de blah posts ... where the user hasn't realised that they are using something that is non-standard. In time, this leads to dissatisfied users who don't feel they are getting support. And dissatisfied volunteers who try to give support but can't reproduce the issue. It's a lose-lose many other projects have experienced for years.