Datetopia.com , the no.1 website for "dating scripts" on google and yahoo has just been updated.
Some links from the new website :
+ Dating Software, Matchmaking Scripts - Datetopia - Dating Scripts and Matchmaker Software Solutions .
+ Products - Dating Software and Online Service Management Scripts - List of Datetopia Dating Software Packages.
+ Compare Dating Scripts, Matchmaking Software Packages -Compare Datetopia Software Packages.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Datetopia Review : Match Agency
Review by Mario:
After looking at several Php based products MatchAgency looked to be the best out there. It was hard to find but we spent weeks trying to find a package that we could alter to sute our needs. Dateopia was the only company that would allow us to use a working demo verson of the software on our server to see if we could alter the package in a way that would keep alot of thier functionality and add alot of the features our perticular userbase needed.
The site runs flawlessly, in 10 days we accumulated over 470 members without any problems associated with the software, even after we did some major alterations. All the problems we ran into were issues with our server, and the fact that we chose to use an IIS based server. Datetopia respoded very fast to questions and answers to issues we had in our beta phase, and questions we had as far as how things worked in the code. We are very happy with this product and would recomend it to anyone. Because your site is an adult site I will not post the address here. But if you would like to see a working site that has a heavy load just pop me E-mail Mario@wetlizard.com and I'll give yout eh URL. Please keep in mind its an adult site that may offend sensitive eyes.
Review by Ravenslade :
We also searched high and low for a package that fitted our needs and future needs. Although we have had a couple of problems we are happy to say that we were helped on all matters without any problems. Everyone has different outlooks on what they need and want in a script, and we believe everyone will have a problem or two on the outset, but this is to be normal with any new project. We would recommend this script to anyone, but remember you will not get anywhere without hard work and determination.
More details : http://datetopia.com/productboard/viewtopic.php?p=60 .
After looking at several Php based products MatchAgency looked to be the best out there. It was hard to find but we spent weeks trying to find a package that we could alter to sute our needs. Dateopia was the only company that would allow us to use a working demo verson of the software on our server to see if we could alter the package in a way that would keep alot of thier functionality and add alot of the features our perticular userbase needed.
The site runs flawlessly, in 10 days we accumulated over 470 members without any problems associated with the software, even after we did some major alterations. All the problems we ran into were issues with our server, and the fact that we chose to use an IIS based server. Datetopia respoded very fast to questions and answers to issues we had in our beta phase, and questions we had as far as how things worked in the code. We are very happy with this product and would recomend it to anyone. Because your site is an adult site I will not post the address here. But if you would like to see a working site that has a heavy load just pop me E-mail Mario@wetlizard.com and I'll give yout eh URL. Please keep in mind its an adult site that may offend sensitive eyes.
Review by Ravenslade :
We also searched high and low for a package that fitted our needs and future needs. Although we have had a couple of problems we are happy to say that we were helped on all matters without any problems. Everyone has different outlooks on what they need and want in a script, and we believe everyone will have a problem or two on the outset, but this is to be normal with any new project. We would recommend this script to anyone, but remember you will not get anywhere without hard work and determination.
More details : http://datetopia.com/productboard/viewtopic.php?p=60 .
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Encoded Scripts - Busting Myths
Let's dispell some myths about encoded scripts:
"An encoded script is hard to customize."
If a protected script can’t be modified to suit your needs, then unencoded version couldn’t be modified either! Encoding has nothing (or little) to do with the ability for script to be customized. If script is not made with the ability to be customized, skinned, modularized, then source code would be of little value to you. You would have to have a LOT of knowledge, programming skills and the time to write a lot of customization code.
"Encoded scripts are very slow."
Software speed is not only related to the PHP code, that there are many other points to be taken into account, and that PHP source is usually the last reason for speed of code.Related article: Optimizing PHP
Sometimes, an encoded script is a lot faster than non-encoded version. That’s because when the script is encoded with a good encoder, it is also optimized/compiled.
"My encoded scripts are slow when deal with many users."
When you have 50.000 users, the script is (usually) not the main reason if your site becomes slow. Ask yourself this, if you were to try Office XP on Pentium 1, how fast do you think it would be? Does that mean Microsoft programmers have made a bad product? No, it means that you have to have appropriate hardware. In our case, that means SQL on separate machine, maybe something more powerful (and expensive) than MySQL, compiled php code (yes it’s also encoded) and several other things that have nothing to do with PHP scripting.
"Big companies provide source code with the scripts."
Does Microsoft, Macromedia, Borland, share their source so everyone can change whatever they want ?!?! No, that’s why software updates are for. And Open Source if you like.
"It's good to offer open source code so users can add new plugins and tweaks to the package."
Better listen for what your users want, and put it in the next version as quickly and as often as possible. Real, honest customers will be satisfied, only crooks will be sad.
If you give source code to anyone outside your office it will find its way to unauthorized users. The software will be available for free download on warez websites. Hundreds of clones will be opened with your software, offering all features for free. Months of development will be for nothing, and you’ll be ruined. Period.
"I need the source code in case I want to upgrade in few yers to a better system."
If you realized that old script is not enough, that means that you are ready for a more powerful script. Go and buy one! Then hire a programmer that will transfer data from old script to new one with a simple script and that’s it. Database is always “open source”, so there is no problem there. Why do you expect to buy a 400$ script and that it should satisfy all your needs in years to come? Did you expect the same when you bought Windows 95? Did you refuse to buy Windows XP when it came out? Did you expect to be able to make Windows XP from 95 yourself? By being able to edit code ... come on!
Conclusions
1. Encoded programs are not evil by itself, you have a full computer of them. Encoding is just a way for developers to protect their intellectual property. If software is really what you want, don’t think twice, buy it. But be sure you really know what you’re buying, if you are unable to make that decision hire someone that can.
2. Ability to edit source code doesn’t guarantee you at all that you will be able to expand the included functionality.
3. If you intend to buy a script and than customize it don’t you forget something? Don’t you have to hire programmers to code for you. Good programmers are rare and not cheap.
Also, there is one tremendous hole in this scenario. If you temper with the code of the open source application, and when that application is updated with official version, you probably will not be able to update to new version without loosing your customizations! So you are again at the point that you have to hire someone to transfer data and customizations.
4. If you need custom script, hire a programmer to write one for you. If at the moment you’re 90% satisfied with the commercial script then buy it! Don’t forget that you’re buying something that costs 20x you’re paying, so it’s a good investment even if you have to buy new script several months from now. A commercial $400 script can cost upto $8000 when developed from scratch.
If you don’t consider encoded scripts you're missing a lot! There are numerously more good commercial scripts than open source.
"An encoded script is hard to customize."
If a protected script can’t be modified to suit your needs, then unencoded version couldn’t be modified either! Encoding has nothing (or little) to do with the ability for script to be customized. If script is not made with the ability to be customized, skinned, modularized, then source code would be of little value to you. You would have to have a LOT of knowledge, programming skills and the time to write a lot of customization code.
"Encoded scripts are very slow."
Software speed is not only related to the PHP code, that there are many other points to be taken into account, and that PHP source is usually the last reason for speed of code.Related article: Optimizing PHP
Sometimes, an encoded script is a lot faster than non-encoded version. That’s because when the script is encoded with a good encoder, it is also optimized/compiled.
"My encoded scripts are slow when deal with many users."
When you have 50.000 users, the script is (usually) not the main reason if your site becomes slow. Ask yourself this, if you were to try Office XP on Pentium 1, how fast do you think it would be? Does that mean Microsoft programmers have made a bad product? No, it means that you have to have appropriate hardware. In our case, that means SQL on separate machine, maybe something more powerful (and expensive) than MySQL, compiled php code (yes it’s also encoded) and several other things that have nothing to do with PHP scripting.
"Big companies provide source code with the scripts."
Does Microsoft, Macromedia, Borland, share their source so everyone can change whatever they want ?!?! No, that’s why software updates are for. And Open Source if you like.
"It's good to offer open source code so users can add new plugins and tweaks to the package."
Better listen for what your users want, and put it in the next version as quickly and as often as possible. Real, honest customers will be satisfied, only crooks will be sad.
If you give source code to anyone outside your office it will find its way to unauthorized users. The software will be available for free download on warez websites. Hundreds of clones will be opened with your software, offering all features for free. Months of development will be for nothing, and you’ll be ruined. Period.
"I need the source code in case I want to upgrade in few yers to a better system."
If you realized that old script is not enough, that means that you are ready for a more powerful script. Go and buy one! Then hire a programmer that will transfer data from old script to new one with a simple script and that’s it. Database is always “open source”, so there is no problem there. Why do you expect to buy a 400$ script and that it should satisfy all your needs in years to come? Did you expect the same when you bought Windows 95? Did you refuse to buy Windows XP when it came out? Did you expect to be able to make Windows XP from 95 yourself? By being able to edit code ... come on!
Conclusions
1. Encoded programs are not evil by itself, you have a full computer of them. Encoding is just a way for developers to protect their intellectual property. If software is really what you want, don’t think twice, buy it. But be sure you really know what you’re buying, if you are unable to make that decision hire someone that can.
2. Ability to edit source code doesn’t guarantee you at all that you will be able to expand the included functionality.
3. If you intend to buy a script and than customize it don’t you forget something? Don’t you have to hire programmers to code for you. Good programmers are rare and not cheap.
Also, there is one tremendous hole in this scenario. If you temper with the code of the open source application, and when that application is updated with official version, you probably will not be able to update to new version without loosing your customizations! So you are again at the point that you have to hire someone to transfer data and customizations.
4. If you need custom script, hire a programmer to write one for you. If at the moment you’re 90% satisfied with the commercial script then buy it! Don’t forget that you’re buying something that costs 20x you’re paying, so it’s a good investment even if you have to buy new script several months from now. A commercial $400 script can cost upto $8000 when developed from scratch.
If you don’t consider encoded scripts you're missing a lot! There are numerously more good commercial scripts than open source.
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