Announcing pfSense plus
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I might get vilified for saying these things, so be it.
I am going to give credit to Netgate for being honest today. They haven’t tried to talk circles around what is going on. The CE edition is not going to be a priority for them after v2.5. That's just the way it is.
I’m not Richard Stallman, I’m not a FOSS purist. I use pfSense at home. It works very well for my purposes. I’ve learned a lot by both trying things until it’s not broken and from those much more experienced than I on the forum. It’s been a very positive experience. I expect that I will continue to use and learn while using the plus version. This will have very little real impact on me.
Look, I’m just a guy who uses this at home. If pfSense vanished next week I’d be just fine, a little disappointed maybe. I don’t have any skin in this game and I’m not inclined to be critical of Netgate for making the business decisions they feel are best for their business and their customers.
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Actually, this sounds great. I had been thinking about this mainly for guys, such as, BBCAN177 and BMeeks.
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@dennis_s said in Announcing pfSense plus:
We think a value-exchange is fair.
100% ACK
That's why I'm asking for the gold membership again.
Open Source is in one oft the best benefits of pfSense. -
Personally I find it sad that pfSense CE and the paid options are going to diverge re. their code bases, because that means that people that otherwise would contribute with fixes etc. (because of the openness of the source code) now will feel less enthusiastic about contributing.
How can I say state that? Well I have previously contributed fixes etc. for dhcpv6 - primary for handling leases in the GUI. I must say that this really feels like a downer to me.Does the management think that closing the source code on new development will put more trust into the product seen from the perspective of the users?
Now, seen from the outside, it will become easier for 3 and 4 letter organisations to get code pushed into the product.
How will you convince users that they can keep investing time into using pfSense regardless if they consider using CE, the paid options or contributing code fixes etc. when they are less likely to be allowed to browse the (up-to-date) source code? -
While this seems to be focused on Netgate's appliances, will it cover the whole line, including the SG-1100?
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@mlines said in Announcing pfSense plus:
While this seems to be focused on Netgate's appliances, will it cover the whole line, including the SG-1100?
In addiction to this question, how is going to be releases once netgate hardware is EOL?
dead on arrival, nowhere to be found.
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@mcury said in Announcing pfSense plus:
@mlines said in Announcing pfSense plus:
While this seems to be focused on Netgate's appliances, will it cover the whole line, including the SG-1100?
In addiction to this question, how is going to be releases once netgate hardware is EOL?
I meant, in addition to the question, for an unknown reason I can't edit the previous post.
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@mlines Yes the SG-1100 will be included.
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@mcury From what I understand right now you should be able to get pfSense plus on all Netgate appliances. Keep an eye on our product lifecycle page for more info later on how it works with EOL appliances.
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Will review prices for my sg 3100 when avail
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It's my understanding that if you own a Netgate appliance, plus is free.
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Even if yet was announced, that there will be a no-charge path for home and lab use, I really hope that will be the way we are going in the next years.
I am also ready to pay for a great software for my private-home-network. It is my hobby, I love PFSense, but the costs -IF in the future there will be a charge for privat users- must be adequate. Like 5$ per month would be fair in my opinion.
But if the version, even for home user would for example be limited to 50 IP adresses (like Sophos) or a charge of XXX$ or XXXX$ would be billed annualy, you would lose many private folks.
And nowadays, especially with smart-home, guest-wifi for your friends, you hit the 50 IP adresses fast.Just that as general thought for your future-briefings.
At the moment it looks great: Plus version, without charge for privat & lab use! Thumbs up!
But IF in the next years you are going to charge the home users, pls keep it in a fair way, to allow the nerds, like me, using that great project. Would be really sad, to move to another platform. -
@jeremy11one said in Announcing pfSense plus:
I think it's important for everyone to know about these 2 things from the FAQ page:***Q: So there are no more new releases from the project?
A: That is really up to how the project progresses itself, separate and distinct from Netgate... If the community chooses to progress feature set, testing, documentation, and release packaging, there will obviously be progression beyond Release 2.5.Q: Is pfSense Plus open source?
A: No. pfSense Plus is closed source.One of the big benefits of pfSense was that it is open source. Even though the upgrade to pfSense Plus is expected to be free for home users, I'm torn about whether to "upgrade" to the newer closed source version or stay with the open source CE version.
I have a "Bad feeling" about these statement too.
While i do understand Netgate is a buisiness.
I can't stop feeling like CE is going to be "abandoned" / "Left as is".I'm not a developer, and have tried to "pay back" by helping out on the forum instead.
But who in the community can lift the task of improving CE ?
Isn't all the "core developers" with Netgate ?/Bingo
Ps:
If i were a Whale , i'd think of this sentence:
"Goodbye and thanx for all the fish" -
pfSense is going closed source in the mid/long run? That is really the worst thing that could happen. :-(
-Rico
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I'm worried, to say at least..
I don't know about you, so I'll speak about me.The EOL from the devices is from 1 to 3 years..
When I decided to support Netgate by buying one appliance, I thought that I would be supporting an OSS project so they could stay an OSS.
Based on that, I understand the reason why the appliances are expensive.Is it possible to ask Netgate, to extend the EOL period, for people like me, who support Netgate and the OSS?
I ask to extend to EOL period, because this is a surprise for us, and fast like this? I mean, next month to leave OSS and become a closed source..
This is not what I was supporting for when I bought my appliance.Please, think about people that bought your appliances, at least double down the EOL period for existing devices, to give us something in the return.
I really like, support, use and recommend Netgate.. Please, don't get me wrong.
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@mcury Sorry, I don't I think I fully understand your question. Why would you want EOL extended? I'll do my best to answer, just want to understand the question.
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@dennis_s Sorry, English is not my 1st language.
If you didn't understand, I'll try to simplify in a single question.If I decide to install FE version, which is closed source, I'll be totally dependent of Netgate for updates, patches and security fixes.
Will there be updates, patches and security fixes for EOL devices that install FE version?
Will I be able to install the latest CE version in my device in case the 1st question's answer is NO?Regarding my previous post, I thought that I would be supporting an OSS project so they could stay an OSS while I could just use my own hardware, I don't think that is fair to us.
So, that's why I'm asking something in return. -
@mcury I apologize if I'm wrong, but I suspect you're confusing "end of life" for the hardware with "no more software updates" for pfSense on that device. https://www.netgate.com/support/product-lifecycle.html as I understand it is just for the hardware. I've personally upgraded several devices on that list that are "past EOL" to 2.4.5, last fall.
I have not heard that Netgate will stop pfSense from upgrading on old hardware. Obviously at some point hardware will just be too old to run new FreeBSD versions but that's different than blocking it.
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@johnpoz said in Announcing pfSense plus:
That wording really sounds like pfsense CE could just die off..
it was bound to happen sooner or later after chris decided it was useful to have a pension-plan ;)
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closed source ... Does this mean I can no longer piss off Jimp and Garga with a new report on Redmine?
my only regret, what a shame
