FC5 install

Hi Rogers,

There are two ways to try Virtualmin before you buy. First is the online demo, and the instructions for logging in to the demo server are here:

http://www.virtualmin.com/demo

Another is via Virtualmin GPL, which is the Open Source version of Virtualmin. It lacks a few features, but is functionally very similar to Virtualmin Professional. The biggest problem with it, from a "try it before you buy" perspective is that installation of Virtualmin GPL is not particularly easy. Or, to be more accurate, installation is easy but configuration of all of the supporting software is not. It would be easy to come away from trying Virtualmin GPL with the idea that Virtualmin is hard to setup...which generally is not correct in the case of Virtualmin Professional.

You can find Virtualmin GPL here:

http://www.webmin.com/index8.html

There is currently no installable demo version of Virtualmin Professional, though we will provide one before the end of the Early Adopter period. During the Early Adopter period, we're keeping a relatively low profile (no ads, no sales calls, no pushing anyone to buy) because so many aspects of the system are still developing rapidly and a lot of little (but occasionally very annoying) bugs still exist, primarily in the installation system. In short, we don't want to make it too easy for someone to become disenchanted with the product before it ever even gets rolling good. The FAQ about Virtualmin covers a lot of the reasons for the choices we've made and the state of things today. Another reason for the lack of an installable demo is that it requires a lot of work to the ecommerce system, rather than our own products. We're focused on Virtualmin code right now, and working on the website would be a pretty big distraction...I'm hunting for a good OpenACS developer that we can afford to pay to do all of the website work, but so far, no luck.

That said, here's where things will be over the next few months...just so folks know what we're up to and what we're planning for both Virtualmin GPL and Virtualmin Professional.

[list]

[*]Virtualmin GPL will get an optional install.sh script, much like the one we provide for Professional, as well as access to our repository of purpose built applications that match (i.e. rebuilt Apache, ProFTPd, etc.). GPL will always lag behind Professional in features, but ease of use improvements should begin to trickle down pretty soon after the EA period ends, and that includes ease of installation and configuration.[/*]

[*]Upgrades from GPL to Professional will get a lot easier.[/*]

[*]The Virtualmin framed theme will be re-shaped into a nice new default theme for Webmin (this one is a little ways out I think, but Jamie and I discussed it and both agreed it was the right way to go for Webmin's ongoing modernization and prettification). Jamie and I are both excited about this one, as we're pretty sure Webmin is often overlooked because it is kind of clunky looking, by default. So we'll both be working on this one as soon as time allows.[/*]

[*]An installable 30 day trial license will be made available for Virtualmin Professional to each new user that signs up at Virtualmin.com--we'll have to figure out how to make the license easily upgradeable to a proper 1 year license upon purchase.[/*]

[*]Virtualmin GPL will inherit the current core codebase of Virtualmin Professional. Again, not many features are trickling down immediately, but some of the nice core improvements we've made since "going Pro" will be. I suspect APIs and the Install Scripts interface will be among the trickledown bits of code. Don't hold me to that, as I haven't discussed it with Jamie at any length.[/*]

[/list]

Pretty much all of this (except easy upgrades from GPL to Pro) will come <i>after</i> the Early Adopter period ends and we've worked out most of the bugs with the deluge of new users (at least, we hope there will be a deluge of new users, or I'm gonna feel real silly about shutting down my other company to work full-time on Virtualmin!).

How's that for a lot more than you ever wanted to know about what we're thinking? ;-)

To sum up: If you aren't sure you like Virtualmin after trying the demo server and having used Webmin, Virtualmin GPL and Usermin in the past, then you might be in the group of users that will be happiest waiting for us to get our various acts together at the end of the EA period. You'll still have a month of discounted prices to jump on board at that point, and without a lot of the hassle of dealing with beta software. But if you're the adventurous type, now is as good a time as any.

Oh, yeah, here's the Early Adopter FAQ:

http://www.virtualmin.com/faq/one-faq?faq_id=15912

I'll shut up now, and get back to work.