Help us promoting Forma LMS

Install and configure FormaLMS and DoceboCE
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alberto
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Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by alberto »

Hey there, are you still happy using Forma Lms?
GREAT! :) So please support the project by writing around some articles, reviews, comments and links to promote Forma Lms.
It's free, but it's priceless for us... thankyou!

Don't know how to do? Start here:

- Become a follower of Forma Lms linkedin page
- Become a follower of Forma Lms Showcase Page
- Rate and review forma on Sourceforge
- Write a review on Capterra
- Review Forma on Elearning Industry
- Like Forma Lms on "alternativeto"
- Rate and post a comment on opensourcecms.com
- Rate Forma on softacolous

Easy, isn't it? Thanks!
scubatricky
FormaLms User
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:43 pm

Re: Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by scubatricky »

Unfortunately the pieces that people really want in Forma are not free. The base system has to be free because of GPL, but forma wants to make money from additional features that should be core functions.
hakangur
FormaLms User
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 1:27 pm
Version: forma.lms 2.0

Re: Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by hakangur »

I totally agree with scubatricky. As far as I can see and sense, developers of FormaLMS seem to have chosen a path that will eventually lead to a totally paid/premium LMS. With major and most common plugins offered as paid, I can see no reason why someone should not go and choose Moodle, Chamilo, ILIAS, WordPress LMSs, or Open Eclass.

I spent a decade analyzing LMSs and writing reports for organizations/institutions, providing them assistance in selecting the most convenient LMS to their needs (I decided to retire myself as of April 2020). I have always believed that Forma has the potential to exist as an LMS of its kind. Yet, there are many things to be done to achieve this:

(1) In the true sense of the term, Forma is not open source. Its "latest" version is not available for everyone and not everybody can contribute. Bugs and improvement suggestions can only be obtained through users of Forma and, in most cases, these users do not know much about scripting.

(2) Forma is slow in following the trend, as the case of H5P proves. As suggested in this forum (again by scubatricky), H5P is almost an individual LMS at the moment; it is a must for an LMS to have it. For Moodle and Opigno, it is no longer an additional plugin - it is a core feature. It is in Chamilo's plans to add H5P in their next major version; Wordpress has had it for years now. Offering H5P as a paid plugin is, to say the least, asking potential users to go and look for alternatives. The currently-required PHP version is another example. I am afraid by the time the latest version of Forma is distributed soon, it will already have fallen behind the then-current PHP version.

(3) I doubt Forma developers follow other LMSs closely. In some cases, developers of one LMS may have found a simple solution to an issue which other developers are still working on. As a kind of weird hobby, I have installed instances of several LMSs (including Forma) on my computer and I try and test their new or updated plugins immediately after they are issued. I know several Moodle and Opigno developers who do the same. I sometimes get the feeling that the developers of Forma simply ignore other LMSs. For example, I was utterly shocked when a forum member, hryhorash, asked whether Forma had the course import/export feature (API course export) and the response by max was "Btw, the function you're designing sounds nice." I would love to hear max say that he did mean that he was not aware that such a function already existed! Course import/export is one of the oldest features offered by LMSs and some of them even offer the feature of importing courses between different LMSs (you can import a Moodle course into Chamilo, for example).

To conclude, all Forma users help promote Forma as much as they can - having a website that is run by Forma is the best promotion ever. Yet, developers of Forma should also help these users promote their LMS by thinking twice about vital decisions and by checking how the others in the same league are doing.
alfa24
Senior Boarder
Posts: 1982
Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:45 am

Re: Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by alfa24 »

First of all, I have to clarify I'm not in the Forma Team, I've never been and I'll never be.
I am a developer. I am Open Source supporter and I deeply know and fully agree with the OS philosophy, too.

In addiction, I agree with most of the things hakangur wrote, from the ethical and theoretical point of view.

What Forma Team decided to do when they started back in 2013, was taking an OpenSource GPL software and searched for a way to make money with it.
Open Source does NOT deny to make money.

Is what Forma Team do LEGAL? Yes, of course.

I forked Docebo and many versions of Forma myself, for customers, being paid for such a job.
I developed many many many paid plugins for Forma, as well as I did for Docebo and Moodle.

Everyone can.

We may discuss about not being encouraged to contribute the project, as it is not really OPEN (there is not a public GIT repository with clear commits, there is not a public bug tracker, and so on).
We may discuss about the base code is not really modular and too much unstable to offer real extendibility.
We may discuss about the lack of a common repository of free and commercial addons: here you will be able to find plugins by Forma Team, but if I want to sell my own plugin, I have to build my own site...

We may discuss of what Open Source is and what Forma is. And we would being philosphising. Nothing more.

Moreover, I can take many Forma users as examples who totally agree with what hakangur wrote, but they are (or were been) contributors at the same time, and they are happy with that.

To conclude, I think this topic will not change anything, but we may continue to use it to let off steams and whine.
Per supporto GRATUITO contattatemi in privato qui
hakangur
FormaLms User
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 1:27 pm
Version: forma.lms 2.0

Re: Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by hakangur »

Thanks for the response alfa24. It is nice to hear from someone who knows what Forma is and is not.
scubatricky
FormaLms User
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:43 pm

Re: Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by scubatricky »

Why is the latest release of Forma restricted to paying users? Is this not against GPL licenses and open source philosophy?
scubatricky
FormaLms User
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:43 pm

Re: Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by scubatricky »

hakangur wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 4:12 pm I totally agree with scubatricky. As far as I can see and sense, developers of FormaLMS seem to have chosen a path that will eventually lead to a totally paid/premium LMS. With major and most common plugins offered as paid, I can see no reason why someone should not go and choose Moodle, Chamilo, ILIAS, WordPress LMSs, or Open Eclass.

I spent a decade analyzing LMSs and writing reports for organizations/institutions, providing them assistance in selecting the most convenient LMS to their needs (I decided to retire myself as of April 2020). I have always believed that Forma has the potential to exist as an LMS of its kind. Yet, there are many things to be done to achieve this:

(1) In the true sense of the term, Forma is not open source. Its "latest" version is not available for everyone and not everybody can contribute. Bugs and improvement suggestions can only be obtained through users of Forma and, in most cases, these users do not know much about scripting.

(2) Forma is slow in following the trend, as the case of H5P proves. As suggested in this forum (again by scubatricky), H5P is almost an individual LMS at the moment; it is a must for an LMS to have it. For Moodle and Opigno, it is no longer an additional plugin - it is a core feature. It is in Chamilo's plans to add H5P in their next major version; Wordpress has had it for years now. Offering H5P as a paid plugin is, to say the least, asking potential users to go and look for alternatives. The currently-required PHP version is another example. I am afraid by the time the latest version of Forma is distributed soon, it will already have fallen behind the then-current PHP version.

(3) I doubt Forma developers follow other LMSs closely. In some cases, developers of one LMS may have found a simple solution to an issue which other developers are still working on. As a kind of weird hobby, I have installed instances of several LMSs (including Forma) on my computer and I try and test their new or updated plugins immediately after they are issued. I know several Moodle and Opigno developers who do the same. I sometimes get the feeling that the developers of Forma simply ignore other LMSs. For example, I was utterly shocked when a forum member, hryhorash, asked whether Forma had the course import/export feature (API course export) and the response by max was "Btw, the function you're designing sounds nice." I would love to hear max say that he did mean that he was not aware that such a function already existed! Course import/export is one of the oldest features offered by LMSs and some of them even offer the feature of importing courses between different LMSs (you can import a Moodle course into Chamilo, for example).

To conclude, all Forma users help promote Forma as much as they can - having a website that is run by Forma is the best promotion ever. Yet, developers of Forma should also help these users promote their LMS by thinking twice about vital decisions and by checking how the others in the same league are doing.
There is of course a solution to all of these problems...Fork Forma.lms into a new GPL Package and develop it independently of Forma association. If it was forked onto github, there would be a raft of developers waiting for an LMS to work on around the world.
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alberto
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Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:18 am
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Re: Help us promoting Forma LMS

Post by alberto »

scubatricky wrote: Fri Dec 25, 2020 5:51 pm Unfortunately the pieces that people really want in Forma are not free. The base system has to be free because of GPL, but forma wants to make money from additional features that should be core functions.
Scubatricky you are totally wrong and offtopic in this thread, which is about promoting the project. Your considerations about the GPL licence are wrong, please read the licence as other users already told you.
Nobody is asking money for additional features: if you don't like the sustainability model chosen by the project founders, you are free to move to any other LMS that better suits your opinions..

Please stop flaming and complaining writing wrong information, the association is already evaluating your ban.
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