SilverKnight Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 I just saw the announcement on the switch from Community Edition to Team Edition, and had a few questions (well, maybe a lot of questions). I've been using Community edition for ~2 years, and have the following configuration that seems to now be a problem with this transition (I would be pretty surprised if this wasn't a problem for a lot of small shops due to MSDN making these easily available to developers): Microsoft SQL Server back end. LDAP integration to AD domain for user account authentication What is the expected transition here for others in this situation? (Will all of this migration be automatic when installing the new license, or does this mean reinstall/reconfiguration of the server.) Is there a specific version of the server that I need to be aware of NOT supporting the current CE license I already have installed? (If I'm going to have to re-install, I might as well evaluate an update from 5.0.44.x to a newer version) I understand I can stick with the same version and keep it free, I just don't see that as a viable option considering bug fixes only come in new releases, not patches to existing versions. In looking at the web site, I note that CE states "Free for OSS and Non profit only" - I'm guessing that the reason we have to write to support is that there is some sort of transition of the license/account that must take place for existing community edition users wishing to continue to use the product and receive updates. Is this correct? I didn't see a clear answer to what wvd_vegt posted here :that there is no longer a free version for small for-profit outfits and contacting support is really to get people to switch to Team edition. What information does support need in order to find the correct account to get this process rolling - assuming the answer to the above question is "YES"? [i'm not doing OSS and not a non-profit dev shop, so I'm crossing my fingers here] (just checked my license expiration, and I have ~2.5 months left before this becomes a big deal, but I'd like to get ahead of the problem before it becomes a melt down at the office -- getting a budget for anything is like pulling teeth and herding cats - at the same time) Do I need to migrate to one of the supported DB back-ends - meaning, uninstalling SQL Server and choosing MySQL/Firebird/etc? (I'm guessing yes, just seems strange to disable connection to full server, but leave CE server as an option - it's really just a connection string difference from my understanding) Is there really no way to connect to SQL Server - when SQL Server CE is supported for the "new" community edition? Now that LDAP is for "Enterprise" only customers, what do I need to do to migrate to "local" authentication with Plastic? Will I have to create new accounts for my existing users, or can I "convert" the existing accounts to "local" and have my users set a password? (<slight rant> from the marketing message, I guess small game developers are not concerned with security, since they must not need domain integration. Or, maybe I'm just unique in that I also run a domain at home for my family of 4 - just seems it would not be uncommon to see small dev shops with an AD. Sorry, don't need Unity - the existing CE was everything I needed - now it isn't) Will this be a problem for the Web GUI or revision history? -- it was showing all of my information via the user SID from active directory. What impact will switching off of LDAP have on the history/blame information that was previously displayed? I suppose I should ask - will the Web GUI continue to function at all with CE? (I didn't see any specific indication that it was/was not included as I did with LDAP/SQL Server) Still a Plastic SCM Fanboy! --SilverKnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cidico Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hi SilverKnight! Well, I'm waiting for the answers too! But, at least for the blame part, I guess that it will not be a problem. I guess that Plastic handles multiple configurations without problem and the history will be fine. I use the local account at home and at work I use my username/password configuration and I'm still able to sync (using GitSync) without problems... The history goes with me everywhere. I must say those limitations can be a problem when advertising Plastic to the world... :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psantosl Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 Hi SilverKnight, We've created a FAQ with some of the answers: http://www.plasticscm.com/pricing/team-edition-faq.html We've also emailed all the *active* CE users (meaning all users we knew were using the CE, but we might have missed a few :-O) before launching CE to explain the Team Edition change. Now, in short: * We greatly appreciate all the CE uses who have been using Plastic for years, they'll be able to continue using Plastic for free and they all have special prices to move to paid editions in case that works better for them. * If you have been using Plastic CE for years and you were using SQL Server or LDAP, please just contact support. We'll find a good solution :-) Hope it helps. :-) pablo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverKnight Posted January 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 Hi SilverKnight! Well, I'm waiting for the answers too! But, at least for the blame part, I guess that it will not be a problem. I guess that Plastic handles multiple configurations without problem and the history will be fine. I use the local account at home and at work I use my username/password configuration and I'm still able to sync (using GitSync) without problems... The history goes with me everywhere. I must say those limitations can be a problem when advertising Plastic to the world... :| That's good to know - wasn't quite sure on that how the users were tracked and if they would show up without a connection to the directory service. Well, I've gotten some of the answers, and started the process for licensing. As far as the LDAP connection, If a new user is downloading the CE and setting it up, they won't miss the feature - our original CVS implementation didn't have this feature, but that was one of the first things I configured for Plastic - we have enough passwords to manage, didn't want to add one more back into the mix. It isn't a huge deal, but is (in my opinion) a nice feature for developers, since that password will automatically be forced changed after 90 days due to domain policies. It just keeps things in sync and secure. Just wish it also did SSPI so it would recognize the new password change, instead of having to update it manually. Guess that is the difference between "LDAP" integration and "Active Directory" specifically - because "AD" isn't cross platform. Would be nice if it automatically updated the Jira plug-in info too to use the same username/pw as is used for LDAP. Fortunately, it is only a process to do every 3 months. I think the answer to the free for-profit usage is: NO - it doesn't exist any more. EXISTING customers/users are exempted. (not a bait and switch tactic - Codice is really working with their existing users to get them taken care of - MUCH Appreciated!) I did get an e-mail that indicated existing users were going to be take care of - that wasn't really my question/concern (though it might have appeared that way in my original post) - The reason for the questions is: How can I now recommend Plastic to other small shop developers (such as at user group meetings) - what is the message I need to convey - since it is no longer "free". Why choose Plastic instead of Mercurial and GIT (which *are* free in this situation). Cost was one of the big draws for our company - we had been using CVS for years. We were evaluating a new system, and TFS was also "free" to us (due to MSDN licensing we already had) - so it was a big deal that we didn't have to purchase something else to replace the existing system (sad I know - use something you already have because it doesn't "cost" you money, even if it sucks and you pay the hidden cost of daily usage/frustration). It took us 5+ years to move from the starter edition of Jira with 10 users to the next tier, and as we grow we will eventually need more licenses for plastic too. Its a great product and we should be happy to pay for and support it. Unfortunately, the bean counters don't see it that way, since they don't have to use the system. Information they will need to get the process started for existing users - all pretty easily acquired with a simple cm li command (well, except the e-mail, but that should already be known!): Number of developers using Plastic now Company EMail for license holder Company Name to appear in license as license holder. Start the e-mail with that info to support and they will get started in helping you out with the transition. DB Back end: Existing customers don't need to migrate (just install the new license), and new users won't be able to choose unsupported DBs, so it won't be a problem for them. Transition for licensing: Expected transition for existing users is just install the new license as a renewal and everything is supposed to just continue to work. (I sure do like "simple"!) Web GUI: From everything I've read on that subject, it appears it should still work with CE because it uses the plastic command line query interface. That covers most of the questions I had (for transition), but would still be nice to have the definitive answers for NEW CE deployments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkokasih Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 I did get an e-mail that indicated existing users were going to be take care of - that wasn't really my question/concern (though it might have appeared that way in my original post) - The reason for the questions is: How can I now recommend Plastic to other small shop developers (such as at user group meetings) - what is the message I need to convey - since it is no longer "free". Why choose Plastic instead of Mercurial and GIT (which *are* free in this situation). Cost was one of the big draws for our company - we had been using CVS for years. We were evaluating a new system, and TFS was also "free" to us (due to MSDN licensing we already had) - so it was a big deal that we didn't have to purchase something else to replace the existing system (sad I know - use something you already have because it doesn't "cost" you money, even if it sucks and you pay the hidden cost of daily usage/frustration). It took us 5+ years to move from the starter edition of Jira with 10 users to the next tier, and as we grow we will eventually need more licenses for plastic too. Its a great product and we should be happy to pay for and support it. Unfortunately, the bean counters don't see it that way, since they don't have to use the system. I can relate very much to 1) what is the message I need to convey since it is no longer 'free' 2) we already have a 'free' solution (but have hidden cost of productivity) 3) the bean counter just doesn't care enough as they already provide the said 'free' solution. I've been using Plastic for almost a year and waiting for a good opportunity to introduce it to my team. The opportunity came just last week when our team is looking for alternative to version control our asset that is mostly binary. Initially, the team was inclined to Mercurial but I proposed Plastic because 1) it handles binary files effectively 2) corporate tools is either too slow (tool 1) or very heavy with process (tool 2) and Plastic is neither of these 3) its very nice GUI 4) it's free for 15 users I definitely will not recommend Plastic if it's not for 'free for 15 users' because it's compared against free solution and getting budget approved for alternative tool is very hard (considering that corporate already give us a 'free' solution with company-wide licenses -- although it is sub-optimal for our specific case) Currently, we are evaluating Plastic, but then I read Plastic's January newsletter that announces Team Edition licensing and I feel let down. I brought the 'bad news' to the team and it is likely that the team will shift to Mercurial in the near future. Personally, I will still use Plastic as it is the awesomest version control that I encounter so far (kudos to Plastic Team!!). But now, I am less inclined to recommend Plastic Although I feel that the move to introduce Team Edition starting from even 1 user is a bad move from getting Plastic spread to the community, I hope it was a calculated move and Plastic will gain something in another aspects and also, I hope the move will not have bad effect for Plastic's future, because I sincerely like Plastic . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calbzam Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Hi, We´ve sent you a personal email. Anyway, thank you for your post. As a Plastic SCM Community Edition (CE) user, you or the person registered in our system who activated your CE license should have received an email back in December in which we announced Plastic SCM Team Edition, a new commercial version for small teams. Giving that every team is different we are giving a personalized attention to address a solution for you directly. Therefore, you can always write to mailto:sales@codicesoftware.com with your request. Aside, to answer some of the most frequent asked questions we prepared this page:http://www.plasticscm.com/pricing/team-edition-faq.htmlThank you! Carlos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khayman101 Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 I've just tried to renew my free for 15 license and am suddenly thrown into all this new licensing goings on. I received no emails in December (or any time) about the change. I've been using plastic for years and have convinced several companies to change, now i can't access my change server since the license has expired Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manu Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Hello Karl we are going to write you an email to solve you issue asap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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