Thanks for the follow-up.
Axman1413 wrote:
The teams main concern is that the Membership "software" we use will be able to carry the load of any number of members. I believe s2Members can do that.
As much as I would like to say "no problem", that's not realistic. At the heart of the WordPress CMS is your database. In the case of WordPress, that's usually a MySQL database. In theory, you're only limited by what your database can deal with. On a modern dedicated server with around 2GB of RAM, my experience shows that you'd be capable of dealing with about 1 million Users/Members without issue.
That being said, there are other "real world" scenarios that must be taken into consideration. For instance, on a server with 2GB of RAM, your database might be able to deal with data storage and database queries. But, then you have other important issues to consider; related to Apache connections and overall processing power. So in a case where you're going to have a HUGE number of Users/Members ( I'd say 10k+ ), I recommend a dedicated server for MySQL queries, and a Cloud Computing model for HTTP connections. Something like the Rackspace Cloud, or Amazon EC2 instances.
I can tell you that s2Member is structured to support an unlimited number of Users/Members, as is WordPress. However, I really can't toss out any hard numbers, because s2Member IS a "plugin", it's not a full application. In other words, the number of Users/Members you can support depends on a multitude of factors, including your theme, other plugins that you're running, your hosting platform, etc.
Axman1413 wrote:
One of the arguments brought up was the adage, "You get what you pay for."
How can I navigate around that argument? Why is such a powerful system like s2Members Pro offered at such a low cost? Not that I'm complaining...LOL
I hear ya. Thanks for bringing that up.
s2Member Pro is cheaper because our goal is to reach a larger audience.
And, as is the case with most open source projects; we have less expense, because we have an entire community helping us to find problems and fix bugs. We spend less ( i.e. very little ) time marketing, and more time working on the software itself ( new features, bug fixes, and documentation ).
Axman1413 wrote:
One of the arguments brought up was the adage, "You get what you pay for."
My opinion of that argument, is that it's incorrect. When you look around in society today, we can all see that's just not the case; at least, not always the case. And I would venture to say that open source software and the communities that support open source software might be leading the way to revolutionizing that train of thought.
For instance,
IE ( proprietary ) vs. Firefox.
Which is better, and why?
Some other free / open source projects that come to mind:
Linux, FreeBSD, Apache, Perl, PHP, PuTTY, FileZilla, OpenOffice, WordPress, Magento, Eclipse, NetBeans, Thunderbird, 7Zip, ClamAV.
Axman1413 wrote:
"You get what you pay for."
I would rebut that argument with a common sense approach aimed at the misconceptions of what open source software really is. Perhaps reminding them that many of the software applications that we use today are open source. For instance, as I'm typing this message, I'm using Firefox ( free, open source ). And I'm replying to you through a software application called phpBB ( also free, open source ).
I think Red Hat developers put it best:
http://www.redhat.com/about/whyopensource/
Why Open Source?
All software has source code. Open source software grants every user access to that code. Freedom means choice. Choice means power.
That's why we believe open source is inevitable. It returns control to the customer. You can see the code, change it, learn from it. Bugs are found and fixed quickly. And when customers are unhappy with one vendor, they can choose another without overhauling their entire infrastructure. No more technology lock-in. No more monopolies.
We believe open source simply creates better software. Everyone collaborates, the best technology wins. Not just within one company, but among an Internet-connected, worldwide community. New ideas and code travel the world in an instant.
As a result, the open source model often builds higher quality, more secure, more easily integrated software. And it does it at a vastly accelerated pace and often at a lower cost.
In the proprietary model, development occurs within one company. Programmers write code, hide it behind binaries, and charge customers to use the software--then charge them more to fix it when it breaks. The problem worsens when you become tied to a company's architecture, protocols, and file formats. Bruce Perens calls this the addiction model of software procurement. And we think a model that puts customers at such a fundamental disadvantage is conceptually broken.
Open source is not nameless, faceless, and it's not charity. Nor is it solely a community effort. What you see today is a technology revolution driven by market demand.
And the revolution is being recognized. Red Hat has teamed up with the Georgia Institute of Technology to look into the causes and the worldwide growth of open source. They created the Open Source Index to better measure its progress.
Imagine if all past knowledge was kept hidden or its use was restricted to only those who are willing to pay for it. Education and research would suffer. Publishing books or sharing information of any sort would become difficult. Yet this is the mentality behind the proprietary software model. In the same way shared knowledge propels the whole of society forward, open technology development can drive innovation for an entire industry.
Of course, anyone researching software applications absolutely MUST take into account their available feature set, and compare one application to another. So I'm not suggesting that anyone choose any software application ( including s2Member ) based solely on the fact that it's open source.
What I am saying is that less expensive software is not always of a lower quality. In my experience, the highest quality software is the software more people are using. The more people use a piece of software ( particularly one that exposes its source code ), the better it becomes. Many large corporations today use WordPress®, and not because it's free; they use it because it's better.
See: http://wordpress.org/showcase/tag/fortune-500/
For the benefit of other readers, please feel free to compare s2Member and s2Member Pro to other software applications. You'll find all of the information related to s2Member by trying it for yourself ( available through WordPress.org ), and s2Member Pro on our website here.
Although this list is a bit outdated right now, it does provide links to other software packages that compete with s2Member. I think you'll find that s2Member and s2Member Pro are among the most powerful solutions available. http://tomuse.com/wordpress-membership- ... chart.html
Of course, we expect people to compare the features of each software application for themselves, and choose one that meets all of their current needs; and, one that is very extensible for future development, as your site matures and your userbase grows. We hope s2Member fits that bill for you.Statistics: Posted by Jason Caldwell — April 15th, 2011, 11:28 pm
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