Getting to v4

[mdo]

Long story short, v4 has taken far too long and I know we're struggling to find enough time to make significant dents across the open issues and PRs. To help get through it all, I'm calling it on v3 and outlining the big steps remaining here so folks know what's in store.

Here's how we get from a string of alphas to a finalized v4 release:

• Stop all work on v3—today. The open issues, split dev setup, and more holds us back from focusing entirely on v4. I'll close all remaining v3 issues and milestones. Any new changes to v3 will be sporadic and highly irregular.
• Switch v4-dev to the default branch. Building on step one, this makes v4-dev the code you see when you visit the repo. I'll cut a v3-dev branch and leave master as-is until v4 ships.
• Move the docs sites. The biggest pain will be moving our docs pages around (specifically, moving v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com to getbootstrap.com). The current v3 docs will be moved to a sub-directory like our other hosted versions.
• Leave the Alpha site as-is, and introduce new docs subdirectory. We'll leave v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com as a snippet of history (updating the header of course to point to the stable release) and put the new docs at getbootstrap.com/docs/4.0/.
• Ship some betas. After the alpha releases take care of the major breaking changes, we'll ship some beta releases to work out the final kinks before RC and final releases.

There's a ton this list misses, but these are the broad strokes that get us to v4. Holler with any questions or comments as I push us through this.

/cc @twbs/team

[rafalp]

@m1guelpf there are plenty in other milestones and issues for you to find out ;)

[MargateSteve]

Looking back through this, although licensing would bring in some cash there is no doubt overall usage would drop and people would just start torrenting it. That said, with ad-blockers, advertising revenue is probably very little in comparison to the usage and time spent developing it.
Why not start selling submitted Bootstrap sites or components (think Themeforest/Codecanyon and the like)? It would make sense for things built with Bootstrap to be sold on the site and the the team to get some of the money in return.

[AlchemyUnited]

@MargateSteve said "...no doubt overall usage would drop and people would just start torrenting it...."

Well, in the context of the current no product revenue stream at all, it's not like such a drop in usage would mean a drop in revenue ;)

Why can't there be a premium license for commercial usage? I can't image how, say $25 a pop would be too much for most reasonable companies to handle. Even a $100 developer's lifetime license might fly.

FWIW, Radiohead made more money on "In Rainbows" than all their previous major label releases combined. In Rainbows was when they did a "pay what you want" model. Certainly @mdo & co is as talented as Thom Yorke & Co.

[coliff]

@AlchemyUnited @MargateSteve
MDO and team have already stated (more than once) that there are absolutely no plans to start charging for commercial usage. For that those don't know already; if anyone really wants to financially support some of the team there are optional Bootstrap themes which add additional components, utilities and plugins: https://themes.getbootstrap.com/collections/all

[MargateSteve]

@AlchemyUnited I meant to say 'OR people will start torrenting it'. I agree with what you say that any income would be better than none but the long and short is that I do not think charging (appreciating @coliff's reply that there are no plans to) would be the best option. Anything that has to be paid for gets torrented and with that they also get hacked, amended or virus-riddled, meaning what someone thinks is Bootstrap is an unstable clone and the brands name gets tarnished. Also, I am not in a financial position to drop $25 each time I have an idea!

@coliff I have seen those and they are very nice, however only a ridiculously devoted Bootstrap fan would shell out $99 when you can get similar, packed to the brim with a host of open source plug-ins already integrated, for $25 on Themeforest. When you see the sales numbers of some of the templates on there, it seems madness that Envato are making a fortune from templates built on Bootstrap while Mark and the team get nothing.

[AlchemyUnited]

@MargateSteve - I wish I had $5 for every forum posts that starts "I have a problem with ______. I bought it on ThemeForest..." :)

Would a lower price sell more? Sure! Does more = better (over the long term)? Not necessarily. $99 might be too rich for some, but at the same time the value is probably well in excess of $99.

Perhaps we need a movement (?) similar to "fair trade" (for coffee)? The point being (provided the $74 delta doesn't kill you) there is a difference between the $99 to the team makes the magic happen, and $25 to the dude/dude-ette downstream that stands on the shoulders of those giants. Mind you, it should probably be obvious. But I'm pretty sure it's not. It's not just what you pay, but also who you pay.

[rafalp]

So you have fulltime job and sideproject that's opensource that you work for fun/satisfaction or out of personal feeling of obligation to "the community". Now you decide to commercialize your OS project too and start charging for it.

Now you are working two jobs, each with people you now have real obligation to because money is involved. And because money is involved your bank is involved, or paypal, or law, or tax office.

Thats how "great idea" it is to try charge for your side project in addition to doing regular one.

[patrickhlauke]

also, and maybe i'm naive/missing something: if this became a paid-for project, what would the incentive be for non-team-members to contribute? and how would revenue be split across team members? etc. anyway, i believe this idea was nixed ages ago, so no point in dredging it out further...

[mdo]

Bootstrap is always going to be open source. I'll put that to bed right now :).

Also going to lock this to prevent it going off the rails again. This issue isn't about that—it's to let folks know our plans for how we'll ship this stuff. See the opening comment for an updated plan—I've made some decisions on URL structure and what not with #22716 in progress.

Getting closer!