Hacker News Reader

Comment by alex_anglin | Hacker News Reader

As someone who hails from Ottawa, where Shopify is headquartered, this is wonderful news. From my perspective, they have contributed more to the tech and startup community in Ottawa than anyone since Nortel. Kudos to them on their success!

View on HN

I wish they would just re-implement the whole thing on top of a hybrid API with reference FOSS implementations of web client servers and client apps so that programmers can pick-and-choose how much PaaS they need. Please get the "apps" on the backburner by letting FOSS compete head-to-head with the little mini-ISV's and their inevitable hodge-podge. Payments and 90% of inventory schlogg can take a hike, but when it comes to that 10% of customization, working on one's own source is so much better that I would use a fully FOSS solution and self host it if I ever needed to do an e-commerce site again for anyone for any reason in any circumstances. Shopify apps and most of the backend customization options really blur the line between software consumers and software users while ignoring that true consumers never want to become users in the first place and true users want total, absolute headroom. Whole world is better off if Shopify is FOSSier.

> working on one's own source is so much better that I would use a fully FOSS solution and self host it if I ever needed to do an e-commerce site again

Except now instead of focusing on the other aspects of your business you need to focus on the infrastructure as well. What if your products get super popular? Not you'll need to work on scaling out your store which will cost a boatload in equipment and specialization.

I work in an incubator/accelerator space in the UK, and there's a new team who are working on a FOSSier, more flexible e-commerce platform called Molt.in You should see if their solution fits with your desired philosophy. It's definitely hitting a pain point that a lot of developers feel when they are forced into "off-the-shelf" solutions like Shopify, that aren't quite flexible enough for their particular needs.

Agreed. Not only more R&D in Ottawa but the fact that a a tech company's HQ is here is a positive. So many tech in Ottawa for R&D, but with their leadership silo'd in Toronto or another hub. Kudos to Shopify on this.

As fellow Ottawans, I think we all really appreciate hearing that. We all benefit from a stronger tech community here.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com