1.) Our abuse processes. The goal in this area is to both be very strict in preventing abuse while trying to do so with as little inconvenience for legitimate users as possible and
2.) Testing the ROI. Cloud servers are really inexpensive for short periods and we will be testing conversion rates to see if the project can be self-sustaining through the added time model.
I could definately see this working out as a customer aquistion channel for DO, eith Dply getting a referral fee.
Automatic deletion, the built in user-data button system and our acceptance of Bitcoin and Alipay provide options that DO itself currently does not offer.
This is the MVP/Initial Beta of Dply and we're hoping to learn a lot from it. One thing we are testing is whether we'll see high enough conversion rates by users adding time to their servers to cover the costs of the free servers and hopefully make a profit. Acting as a DO referrer is a backup option that could add credit to the platform to help cover costs if the current model proves unsustainable.
I can see the potential for this in the following scenario:
People start using it to showcase the service/software by clicking on a button on GitHub.
Or imagine yet: going to the docker hub, clicking on a button, and getting a server with that up and running.
This might be huge. Providing support for an image with docker and allowing one to use docker compose or the such seems the way to go here.
If this post doesn't reach some of the projects with more potential, you should try to reach out to them yourself.