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Re:HackerEngine: A payment-ready Rails app with Bootstrap, S... by bcardarella on Monday February 13, 2012 @02:12AM (#3584582)
This is a flat-out rip off. All three of those tools can plug into any Rails app pretty easily:

Bootstrap: https://github.com/seyhunak/twitter-bootstrap-rails

Stripe: http://railscasts.com/episodes/288-billing-with-stripe

KISSmetrics: http://support.kissmetrics.com/apis/ruby-specific

If you can't manage to set these things up on your own save your money because you shouldn't be bothering to build a Rails app in the first place.

Re:HackerEngine: A payment-ready Rails app with Bootstrap, S... by _pius on Monday February 13, 2012 @02:28AM (#3584617)
This is a flat-out rip off. All three of those tools can plug into any Rails app pretty easily ...

It's true that these are all relatively easy to integrate, but why hate on fellow hackers for packaging and selling their solution?

If you really want to make the point that it's a ripoff, do the work to replicate it as a boilerplate project and release it for free.

Re:HackerEngine: A payment-ready Rails app with Bootstrap, S... by sha90 on Monday February 13, 2012 @03:47AM (#3584775)
Yea, why hate on people who take advantage of and mislead uninformed newcomers to the Rails community by selling them existing free software that is trivial to set up, all the while passing it off as their own?

Maybe because some people believe in honest businesses, and not ripping off end users for a quick buck. I say mislead and rip of, because the site is presented as if the work done is novel, when it is not. Why is it that links to the libraries used are conveniently omitted? Shouldn't Bootstrap, Stripe, and KISSmetrics' codebases be linked somewhere so that users can see what it is they are getting, if they want to do it themselves?

That said, I think I will take you up on that replicating challenge. You are certainly right that someone should undercut the market before they make any undeserved money off the work of others.

Re:HackerEngine: A payment-ready Rails app with Bootstrap, S... by _pius on Monday February 13, 2012 @12:59PM (#3586600)
First, let me say that I know nothing about the authors. I'm just arguing the principle here.

Yea, why hate on people who take advantage of and mislead uninformed newcomers to the Rails community by selling them existing free software that is trivial to set up, all the while passing it off as their own?

Hmm ... I didn't get the impression that they had written Bootstrap, Stripe, or Kissmetrics. Clearly what they're selling is a tested Rails app that integrates the Stripe and Kissmetrics API libraries and provides a baseline UI based off Bootstrap.

Maybe because some people believe in honest businesses, and not ripping off end users for a quick buck.

That's where this gets destructive. Just because it's not worth the price to you doesn't mean that these people are running a dishonest, rip-off business. You ought not attack people's ethics because you don't like the value proposition of their business.

Moreover, your argument is predicated on the idea that time is worth nothing. Back in my consulting days, even if the integration of all of these things at production quality would take only one billable hour (which, incidentally, it wouldn't), the $149 would save me money.

Maybe you're a faster developer than I am or maybe you just don't bill enough. Either way, just because the price isn't justified for you, doesn't mean it couldn't be a lifesaver for someone else. Certainly doesn't mean the business is dishonest.

That said, I think I will take you up on that replicating challenge.

Awesome.

Re:HackerEngine: A payment-ready Rails app with Bootstrap, S... by robee on Monday February 13, 2012 @03:22AM (#3584710)
This a little unfinished but I have a python alternative to this that is Open Source. Velocity Bootstrap is the name, here is the location - https://github.com/robee/velocity-boilerplate-public
Re:HackerEngine: A payment-ready Rails app with Bootstrap, S... by smackjer on Monday February 13, 2012 @09:56AM (#3585766)
I've used Rails for almost 5 years. I've implemented Stripe, KISSmetrics, and Bootstrap each on at least two different projects.

Even with my experience, I'd estimate that using a pre-packaged app like this would save me at least 3 hours of (relatively mundane) work. It's worth every penny.

I could easily see this taking a day or two for someone with less experience.