SxSW 2015

from rags to... open-source?

SxSW 2015
Austin, TX

Transcript

1. from rags to… open-source?
   SXSW 2015 #ragstoopensource
   @sailsjs
   

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3. Mike McNeil
   @mikermcneil
   github.com/mikermcneil
   

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4. bdfl of
   the leading open-source
   MVC framework for Node.js
   

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5. the leading open-source
   MVC framework for Node.js
   

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6. at least downloads since 2013
   400,000
   GitHub stars
   9,800
   over downloads / day
   1,500
   

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7. in funding
   $0
   

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8. 3 Stages of Open-Source
   

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9. 1. No one knows about your $!#%
   2. No one knows how to use your $!#%
   3. No one pays you for your $!#%
   

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11. est. feb 2012
    

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13. (us)
    (customer)
    (Javascript app)
    

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14. love at first sight
    circa 2011
    Node.js...
    

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15. so…
    

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17. You don't want to be writing all
    these system calls.
    You need something that gives
    you… an ORM abstraction, or
    something.
    

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18. could we use
    …for everything?
    I wondered…
    

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21. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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22. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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23. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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24. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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25. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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26. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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27. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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28. Sails is an MVC framework.
    

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29. first version (late 2011)
    

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30. December 2012
    

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32. >=20 other community adapters custom app-specific adapters
    

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33. January 2013
    first halfway-decent docs
    http://web.archive.org/web/20130514080123/http://balderdashy.github.io/sails/
    

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34. posted screencast in early 2013
    

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35. …woke up to 1000 views
    

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37. reddit — Feb 2013
    hacker news — Mar 2013
    and again two months later
    

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39. managed to get sailsjs.org online
    mid-spring 2013
    

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41. No one knows about your $!#%
    

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42. #sails on freenode (IRC)
    issues
    groups
    

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43. support !== marketing
    but remember
    

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44. support !== marketing
    ( )
    but remember
    

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45. measure things
    

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46. Github stars
    NPM downloads / day
    Google group membership
    IRC channel activity
    Number of tagged StackOverflow questions

    (and your answer ratio)
    

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49. ????
    

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50. ???????????
    

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51. v0.9 introduced
    a new streamlined asset pipeline
    

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52. asset pipeline????
    “what about gulp?!”
    “so thirsty…”
    asset pipeline????????!!!!
    asset pipeline????????!!!!
    asset pipeline????????!!!!
    asset pipeline????????!!!!
    asset pipeline????????!!!!
    

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53. so v0.10 introduced generators.
    

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54. feature requests
    are the hydra
    

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55. they will never stop.
    

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56. they will never stop.
    ever.
    

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57. No one knows how to use your $!#%
    

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58. inline jsdoc comments
    are not enough
    write docs in markdown
    compile to HTML
    

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59. remain humble
    you’re never big
    enough to be a dick
    

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60. make something people want
    

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61. better yet make something
    YOU want
    

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62. don’t repeat yourself
    DRY
    

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63. don’t repeat ourselves
    DRO
    the goal of open source
    

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64. if you don’t actually need a thing
    because it will suck
    don’t build it
    

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65. only write code you actually need
    if someone else actually needs something,
    they’ll write a pull request
    only merge new code if someone actually needs
    you to merge it (i.e. there’s no other way, via a
    plugin or something)
    

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68. we were
    monetized
    via
    professional
    services
    

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70.              C            O  
               NFI        DEN  
               TIA      L  i  
               nfo    rma  
               tion  in  
                 tended  
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77. We're just giving you
    functions that return
    functions that you do
    things with.
    Doug Wilson
    Lead Maintainer, Express
    

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78. A standardized interface for JavaScript functions.
    node-machine.org/spec
    

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79. far more front-end developers
    ∃
    than back-end developers
    

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80. far more front-end developers
    ∃
    than back-end developers
    eventually
    everyday backend development
    will be commoditized
    

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82. Y Combinator
    

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83. driving = bad idea
    

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87. “Since we can execute Bash and PowerShell scripts on the
    machine that is supposed to run the sails app, we can pretty
    much do whatever we want…”
    contributes to Sails.js
    

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88. “…Treeline is working with the
    Sails.js community to bring in
    JavaScript developers who
    could use the editor to be more
    productive.”
    

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90. No one pays you for your $!#%
    

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91. DONT
    TRY TO SELL FREE
    SOFTWARE
    

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92. creepy
    

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93. You can’t
    monetize open-source.
    

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94. build a new product
    on top of open-source tools
    

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95. not creepy
    

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96. ALL SOFTWARE
    WILL BE OPEN-SOURCE
    EVENTUALLY
    

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97. give more than
    you take
    

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98. Questions?
    @mikermcneil
    

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99. @mikermcneil
    from rags to… open-source?
    @ncrumrine
    

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