Introducing the Feature Pipeline
Background
Up to this point, I’ve been happily working on Password Pusher since it’s inception in 2011 in my free time and it’s been greatly rewarding.
But over the last few years, popularity has grown to such a point that, because of the large backlog of work to do, feature requests have had to wait sometimes a year or more before I can even get the point of implementing them.
Some of these requests are:
- Extended Branding: More logos & custom text on more pages
- SSO & LDAP
- More Password Generator Options
- Bulk push operations
- Automatic Emailing of Pushes
- Large (>4GB) file uploads
- and a lot more…
These would be great additions to the project but have been delayed over and over again just because of the sheer number of requests and limited time.
Which Direction Forward?
So what to do?
My options are that I can either:
- Option 1: maintain the current pace with recreational coding in my free time, adding a few big features each year
or
- Option 2: find a way to to accelerate this project, make it self-sufficient and start to add the features users are asking for now
…we are going with the second option.
Feature Pipeline
The feature pipeline is a set of premium and pro features over and beyond the open-source code base that is available through subscriptions.
As development progresses, many of these premium features will periodically be moved to the open-source code base.
Organizations that subscribe get immediate access to these premium features and support open-source development.
Going forward, some newly developed features may be premium at first only, others will go straight to open-source.
This model creates a “pipeline of features” that progress from premium to open-source. It will allow me to work far more on the project and really accelerate development.
Self-Hosted: What’s Changed?
Absolutely nothing has changed but do expect more features faster in the open-source version coming soon.
Note: A self-hosted version of the Premium Features you see on pwpush.com is coming soon.
pwpush.com: What’s Changed?
You get a ton of new features immediately (without a subscription).
And for those who want to subscribe, there are even more features aimed at professionals and teams. Read about them here.
But there is one feature that is now subscription limited that wasn’t previously: file uploads. Read on for more.
pwpush.com: File Uploads
For a long time, on pwpush.com, anyone could upload files and attach them to pushes. Essentially anonymous file uploads.
It started out well but lately there has been some hints of abuse and after thinking it through, I’ve realized that anonymous file uploads pose a real risk to myself and to the project.
I really tried to keep these free but unfortunately, the risk is too great and hence are now only available to subscribers.
This only affects users of pwpush.com. Those self-hosting the application are unaffected.
Note: To utilize file uploads, you can either subscribe or self-host Password Pusher which doesn’t have any limitations on file uploads.
My apologies on this one. I really tried to keep file uploads free but unfortunately it’s just not possible.
Editions
There are now three editions of Password Pusher:
- OSS: The open source version as always available in the Github repository
- Premium: A Premium edition on pwpush.com with file uploads, a personal policy & extensive branding
- Pro: A Pro edition for teams collaboration, custom domains & team policy enforcement
Where are these editions available? Here’s a table to illustrate:
| Edition | pwpush.com? | Can Self-Host? |
|---|---|---|
| OSS | ✅️️️ | ✅ |
| Premium | ✅️ | ✖️ |
| Pro | ✅️ | ✅ |
See the subscription pricing here.
Note: The Pro self-hosted option is not available yet but coming soon.
How to Subscribe
Thank you for even considering to support the project. Pricing for the new subscriptions is here.
Summary
My hope is that the introduction of subscriptions and this new feature pipeline will allow me to build out Password Pusher to better secure you and your organizations and to to hopefully make your professional lives a little bit easier.
And ultimately, to have the open-source version as the eventual & final benefactor of new features.
Wrap Up
Thanks to the Password Pusher community for the trust, support & feedback over the years.
As always, if you have any questions, problems or feedback, feel free to contact me anytime: pglombardo at the pwpush.com domain or see the Support page for other methods.