[cpx] Re: [vps2] Control Panel?

[microso1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

> The only thing I can think of as an answer, not that you asked for one ;),
> is that all or most of the "other" hosting companies do not offer such an
> open, highly controllable, and completely customizable environment.  This
> environment, called VPS2, is also new (well, ok, more than a year old
> now).  I believe they are building from the ground up because it needs to
> fit into their virtual hosting environment.

I agree generally that the current "implementation" of CPX doesn't do many
of the functions that resellers are looking for.  I think that was a risk
when releasing CPX, do you wait until you have a fully working model, or
do you release with what you've got?  It all depends on the user you are
talking about, as I think we've seen.

In the open source world, you have to do enough work to make your project
look appealing, give it direction, and so forth.  Then, as people start
looking at what is going on, they start tweaking stuff, making
enhancements, submitting suggestions, and adding functionality that fits
how "they" work, and if your lucky, it starts to drive itself.  Often in
ways you never had thought of.

CPX feels like it is written with an open source flavor.  But some of the
framework that would allow the customization isn't implemented yet.  You
can tweak, but right now, not w/out risk of splintering your code from the
core.  I think CPX's appeal becomes more apparent as Verio adds to its
core code base obviously.  But also, if people are able to help add to it
to solve a particular problem they face, it becomes much more powerful.
Maybe resellers start developing "add-ons"  that can be plugged in, that
do things like automated ways of prepending a 3 digit alpha-numeric code
to a username.  The trick is developing an architecture that allows for
that kind of extensibility, while still maintaining some control over core
design elements.  I think the framework is there, if not in actuality, in
concept, but maybe it would need to be released to the general open source
community to get the kind of coding traction behind it to make it truly
take off.

And VPS is flexible, no way that Verio or really anyone could design an
interface that models how everyone works with it, there will ALWAYS be
people who say "this doensn't work the way I do or the way I think".  So
the tweaking aspect, the aspect of plugging in modules that work for "you"
is a key success item.

So Verio releases an architecture (VSAP) with a partial implementation
called CPX control panel, with a base set of modules that do stuff.

1.  Some people judge it on what it does for them today, ie, Verio's
implementation of an control panel on the architecture.  Kind of like a
beauty pagent in a way.  Time in the make-up chair, with the hairdresser,
and with wardrobe people can make things pretty slick.  But maybe
that hair-do  appeals to one person, but not another.

2.  Some people judge it for what it CAN do for them from an architecture
standpoint.  Hey, this thing has potential.  I can see that it is
tweakable.  I can see HOW they are doing it, and I can see how I could
change things to work for me.  I can see how I can do the make-up,
hairdressing, and wardrobe myself, to really suit what I'm looking for.

Ultimately, Verio must do both.

1.  Make a full fledged control panel that resellers can use out of the
box, kind of the 80/20 rule.

2.  Design it to be as fully customizable and scalable as possible for
those 20.


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