We have been working with the Vtiger CRM and the related products from the initial days of Vtiger CRM. The Vtiger CRM development and community process were very slow from the initial days. But it is a very serious issue the Open Source CRM in the recent days has become more closed for even contribution. It gives a feeling that it is being run today by a very few greedy pirates who want to ensure no one else should be allowed to contribute or make business out of Vtiger CRM.
We are worried very much as we have to support our existing 1000s of customers who are over Vtiger CRM. Even though we have been early contributors to the Open Source version, we have never been able to get our products listed out in the marketplace. I believe there are a lot of similar business like us. We already wrote a post to the Vtiger CRM Community on our blog on the imminent demise of Open Source version.The Stinking Problems with the Vtiger CRM Community.
Lack of maintenance
We have been submitting our extensions to the marketplace since its inception. None of our modules got listed. Without proper guidelines, we waited for a whole year with back and forth email for getting approval for our Google Calendar Integration.
Never letting the discussion grow
For No reason Vtiger Community moderators have been always favorable to a few. Without stating any reason, Our Vtiger discussion forum account has been blocked. Even a new account created using our domain will be blocked in the following day. The comments on blogs will not go through and it made me to write a open letter to Sreenivas. We got a lame duck excuse from the company after a couple of months.
Lack of Openness:
We have been the topic of discussion by a foul mouthed person in the mailing list as we did not contribute to the community. This forced us to send a note detailing our indirect contribution and the restriction we faced in the direct contribution. The mail has been sent a week earlier and has never been approved. If a mail is taking month to get approved, the community can be closed for ever. Our mail to the thread.
Who is the Looser ?
CRM is no more just managing data for the customer. It is a centerpiece of the group of all the business application used today. But I don’t see any vision for the open source managers in taking the Vtiger CRM to the next level. Ultimately, the customers who are going to use the Vtiger CRM is going to live in the 20th Century as the 21st Century gallops at a much faster rate.
We have thousands of customers to serve for the Open Source version and we will not be able to do it without a proper cooperation from the community. As the Vtiger CRM is getting more closed, We have been forced to fork the Vtiger – Joforce.
We could have happily written something over Vtiger CRM, if our roads were not bumpy and rough. As one of the initial developers of Vtiger, I wish to continue my indirect contribution to the community as like the past with Joforce.