UPDATE: Some weeks ago, I innocently posted a blog about my friend who used the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform to raise money to make a feature film based on the Veronica Mars TV show. It was enormously successful — they were hoping to raise $2 million, but finished with almost three times that amount, from over 91,000 individual backers. As they say in the movies, principal photography on the film is now underway. (I know, because I contributed, and get regular emails from the set. Woo hoo!)
Anyway, I thought wouldn't it be cool if we could do something similar — on an, ahem, much more modest scale — to get more people involved in the development of PostBooks and fill out some missing features that people are looking for. Well, be careful what you ask for...you just might get it. We asked for feedback, and boy did you respond.
Contribution Level (USD) | xTuple "Thank You" gift | Limited Number of Contributors
$100 | xTuple Feature Mob exclusive t-shirt | unlimited
$250 | above, plus xTuple Lands’ End polo shirt | unlimited
$500 | above, plus xTupleCon (2013 or 2014) admission | unlimited
$1,000 | above, plus xTuple Connect package value $2,859.50 | Only 10 available
$5,000 | above, plus Enhanced Commissions package value $19,859.50 | Only 10 available
$10,000 | above, plus 5-user perpetual license, xTuple Enterprise value $31,415.00 | Only 5 available
Special Offer | BONUS xTuple "X" Embroidered Logo Ball Cap | FIRST 100 only
Contribution amounts shown in U.S. Dollars
We've been pouring over all the feature requests, getting them logged in our Issue Tracker, and doing our best to rationalize the new issues with the ones that have been in the system for a while. (What's that, you say? You didn't know xTuple had an issue tracker as part of its CRM module? Shame on you! Or maybe shame on us for not making it more visible!)
Anyway, anyway... we're digging out from the very exciting launch of our new Free Trial cloud offering, and are ready to start focusing on what we're now calling Feature Mob 2 (extra points to those of you who remember the first one!) These are the Top 30 issues that got the most community support, and seemed the most achievable in the next few major releases of the software.
There are some big, exciting features in here — Integrations with leading open source solutions for payroll and business intelligence. Issues that we've heard repeatedly from users in Europe such as expanded localization of VAT reporting and electronic payments. Importing and reconciling electronic banking transactions. Better support for credit card purchasing. A supercharged search wizard to unlock the incredible power of regular expressions for the less technical among us. Hopefully, if you've been involved in the xTuple community for any length of time, you'll see some of your favorites on this list!
Here's the official announcement — with links to how you can contribute, and collect some truly awesome thank-you gifts!
Ned Lilly
In October 2001, Ned co-founded xTuple, originally called OpenMFG, with the aim of bringing the worlds of open platform software and enterprise resource planning (ERP) together to solve the unmet needs of small- to mid-sized manufacturers. In 1999, he was a co-founder of Great Bridge, an early business built around the PostgreSQL database which is also the core technology for xTuple today. Great Bridge was incubated inside Landmark Communications, a mid-sized media company where Ned directed corporate venture investments, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and startup activity. Prior to Landmark, Ned worked for a regional technology group in Washington D.C. and had a brief first career in political media — television, radio and a non-partisan news wire. He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.A. from George Washington University.