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Comment by stephenr | Hacker News Reader

No pricing, doesn't appear to be open source, so why would I rely on this?

Too many SaaS apps go the way of the dodo these days - if I can't run it myself it's going to be a hard sell, and if you can't make a case that you're profitable, I'm not gonna take a risk on your flash in the pan project.

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Thanks for the feedback. It's in beta now, and pricing is still in the works as we strive to provide value yet offer an affordable pricing. As the company behind Vecta, we have been profitable for a long time and has been making CAD software, for a while, and so we won't be going away anytime soon, well, at least that's the plan :)

I think those are the same words every new business ever have said.

You need to address pricing, even if it is stating that we're not sure yet. As it is, it looks like you just want to avoid the topic.

Also, assure me that my diagrams can be exported, backed up locally, etc. Maybe a github integration or something similar? Anything that lets me know I'm not locked in. I won't allow my data to be locked in.

Thanks for raising your concern to us, but we're by no means trying to avoid the topic as we're like what you said, not too certain of the pricing yet. We're pro to freemium model atm. Rest assured, we'll ensure your data won't be locked in and is well integrated with other platforms. Thanks for helping us to improve on our users' experience, we'll work hard on that :)

>same words every new business ever have said

No.

Being backed by a longer term profitable entity that has related tech, is definitely not what most new SaaS vendors say. It's not a guarantee but it's a legit plus.

SaaS startup promises and unsustainable offers are a real and serious concern. But when a product is just getting launched, still in beta, there's nothing wrong with them taking some time to figure out the parameters.

The very thing you are demanding makes it prudent for companies to do everything they can to get pricing and promises right.

It's not a new business. Please reread the comment you're replying to.

>doesn't appear to be open source, so why would I rely on this?

Because there is no open source project as good? Or was that rhetorical?

Historically OSS content creation hasn't been as competitive with commercial offerings as other categories of software. Does Gimp compare to Photoshop nearly as well as Linux compares to Windows Server? Would love for a serious benefactor to help OSS content creation in general.

If you do know anything that looks as good as Vectra please throw out a link.

The rest of my comment does explain the logic:

If a SaaS app is closed source, like this one appears to be, if it closes (e.g. if they're acquired, decide its not profitable enough, lose interest, etc) I have no options. Maybe I can get my data out, but then what?

If a SaaS app is open source, and the paid version is essentially paying for the service of it being hosted, I have no concerns: if they close for whatever reason, I can run (or pay someone to run) the open source software.

> If you do know anything that looks as good as Vectra please throw out a link.

I haven't tried it, but I'd imagine the recent(ish) browser-based LibreOffice Online might be usable for the same purpose?

We're hopeful our export to SVG feature would have provide LOTS of options to use desktop software or other online SaaS to have continued access to your work. In these days and age, SaaS players must be open especially so with their file formats, and since we want to work well with other platforms, but not reinventing the wheel, we opt for SVG file format, so it can continue to work well with others for many years to come. Hope it clears your doubts :)

Same comment. The first thing I do is look for pricing. If I cannot find it or it was clearly made hard to find, I move on. Looks like a neat tool, but I'm not bothering to make an account.

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