So what brought me back? Well, I am now installing a media server for my home use. I previously had web and media server combined, but am now separating them for a number of reasons. In any event, what interested me in Amahi again was the easy setup of the Greyhole storage pooling (which, despite my familiarity with Linux, looks daunting to set up independently of Amahi). It turned out it wasn't going to be that easy, as I ran into a couple problems (nothing the forums or wiki couldn't help me solve), and still need to move my Landing Zone since my root file system is only 25Gb.
Now I am reconsidering the "price of entry." I like to support organizations that have great ideas and implement them well. This is why I pay for Dropbox, Slacker, Remember the Milk, etc. These are great services that I could use for free, but I want to do more so I support them (and of course get some benefits like more storage space, no ads, etc.). From what I've seen, Amahi is of that caliber due to the way you guys have executed your software/services.
The issues I have (and the reasons for this post) are as follows:
1. I am nervous about the future of this project. Can you share any stats as far as how many ninja members you have currently, and what kind of sign-up rates you've seen over the last few months (i.e., are they going up, down, steady)? I don't want to throw $160 your way (which is more than I pay Dropbox, Slacker and RTM in a year combined) only to see it go down the drain when you fold up shop in 4 months. I really have no way of knowing how stable this project is, given all the recent changes and pretty harsh backlash you've received.
2. I think it is ridiculous that ninja users still have to pay for apps. If I'm paying $160 per year for a service, I don't expect to be nickel and dimed for apps. Sure, ninja users get a discount (wow, 20%, that's not very significant), but I don't think it makes sense as a business model to charge such a high annual fee and then still charge for open source, albeit repackaged, apps. By the way, isn't that a violation of the user licenses for these apps? I would guess that it is. So, my question is, has thought been given to the idea of making all apps free for ninja users, and charging non-ninja users for them. I personally think this would make the ninja signups increase exponentially, because I'm guessing your long-time users would be much more willing to go the subscription model than to start paying for Amahi DLNA after getting it free for so long. Just my personal opinion.
Just wanted to let you know, this is a hard pill to swallow, despite my desire to do so. I'll continue to think about it, but in the meantime I'd appreciate it if someone from Amahi could respond to my questions, above.
BTW, if I do become a ninja, I'm going to explore the possibility of helping with testing and perhaps packaging some apps of my own as well (which will all be free, of course).
