What is the Laravel Business Model?

I like to think contingencies are in place as a lot of people now depend on laravel, however, it would be cool to hear a definitive response.

We need to get Taylor's DNA and clone him as much as possible to be sure Laravel continues forever.

Or just inject the DNA into ourselves :)

Or destroy all the buses on the planet

This is kind of a silly question. How safe is your app? It's an open-source project dependent on many vendors. It's up to you how safe your app is. If laravel's development ceases for whatever reason.. well.. you should keep it safe yourself. This is the case with every piece of software.

Let's say, god forbid, something were to happen to any of the developers then there are plenty of others who will fork it and take it over. It's an open-source project like I said. Taylor is the creator but the rest of the community contributes (by means of pull-requests on github).

In other words, Laravel is here to stay just like ebola :')

True about other developers taking over but if we don't know what the long term plan is then we will get another developers take on things. Rather than what the creator of the project envisioned for it.

Would be cool if we had a group - 'Guardians of Laravel' - who could hold the secrets for where the app should go and trusted to make sure it gets there :) lol

Or build a wall around Taylor's house and protect him with our lives... We then shall call ourselves "The Lara's Watch"

hahaha that's the best solution. He will have more protection than a durex factory to make sure he continues to develop laravel! :)

"... how safe is my app?"

It's true that any of our apps developed using Laravel or any other package are vulnerable to things out side our control. In this thread I'm not interested in bugs or bad code, I want to know if Laravel has a business model. Is there a plan for its longevity?

Well when they announced Elixir I thought it was something that was going to make them immortals so they could continue to develop Laravel forever, but no, it was just a gulp plugin or something.

Whilst we are on the topic, if something did happen to Taylor then would it mean the current laravel site and documentation be taken offline due to access being locked into Taylor?

Maybe a select number of trusted people have access to the site already and contingencies are in place to ensure it will be maintained and to a particular standard - but it would be cool to hear a definitive answer to this.

Drop Taylor a tweet and ask him to respond on here haha :)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think opensource projects like these have a business model. Of course there is a somewhat longterm plan, but from what I understand is: We listen to the community and iterate the software.

I don't think there is a 10 year plan on the table. And I don't think there should be. The software world is changing by the day. Having a plan for such a long time is not really a good idea imo.

To make my story short. Laravel will live as long there is a community which goes for every other opensource project.

One day Taylor will have a big beard, limp wiener, and wrinkles the size of the grand canyon. I'm sure there will be other developers that will simply take it over. As for as vision goes, that will be up to the new developers

I suggest Taylor to build a special key that can then be divided into 7 fragments and give one fragment to the best PHP developer on each continent so if something bad happens them they will be invoke and complete the magic key to rescue the world I mean Laravel.

I'm a big fan of Forage.

This was brought up at the very first Laracon Q&A session.

If I remember correctly, someone very eloquently shouted "Please DON'T DIE!" haha

@Ortix I'm sure the question was more about whether plans have been put in place to make sure this project can be continued. The question was asked about the longevity and future plans, not necessary a 10 year plan to be brought forward lol.

I'm sure we all understand how open source works too - but we all use laravel for a reason and it would be good to know if plans are in place to make sure this project will move forward.

@Ortix Yes we all understand how open source projects work. Laravel could die one day but I hope not.

I try to give a serious answer but it's difficult... Let's see:

• The code is open source it means someone else could continue it or even yourself could patch it or adjust it as needed.
• Laravel 5 includes contracts so you could even replace full component/classes if you want
• Laravel has several years now and it's a free project for you to use, but you also want them to make a plan for you to continue using the framework forever or something...

What is the main concern here? To ensure a client his project will always be up-to-date? Everthing needs to be periodically updated. To ensure yourself you will never need to learn another framework etc.? That just won't happen.

I can't imagine myself building an open source framework/component and having to answer this kind of question, my main concern if I die would be my family, etc. Someone else can take over the projects I was working on, open source or commercials.

Oh by the way, some clients has asked me similar questions before, it's just rude...

If you have this concern then please don't use frameworks, build everything by yourself, but then a client will ask you, what happens if you get hit by a bus? Etc....

@devinfd and @Mike - no you don't understand how open source projects work. If a project stagnates for whatever reason - the community moves it forward. Or some other person/entity will build something on top of it.

I don't know what plan you're looking for. In all cases, it will involve people OTHER THAN TAYLOR taking over Laravel. What's the difference?

Edit: @silence beat me to it with a better answer above :)

I use Laravel for a reason, its the most elegant php framework today and enjoy using it. I was interested to see if there was a long term plan for THIS project, not a random spin off continued by some like yourself.

Taylor had a unique vision when he started this project, would be interesting to know whether he has some awesome innovative ideas for Laravel which would be a shame to lose because of a freak accident for example.

Im sure more developers would feel the same way, and maybe they would voice their oppinions if people like you were not so rude in responses.

God help us if Laravel was continued by you one day haha

@Mike Laravel is already a stable framework. Whatever happens in the future won't affect your projects.

You could die tomorrow in a freak accident too. Then you wouldn't have to worry about all this :)

@Mike you could just forge Laravel's project and create your own version, but first you need to submit an application including not only your PHP and Laravel skills but also what will be your plan in case of accidents or terminal diseases...

I understand your love and devotion to the framework, Laravel is really nice, but I think the initial question is rude, maybe you don't have a bad intention or realize it, but it is.

@sidscorner @silence Thank you for your responses and I hear what you are saying. I understand and agree completely that open source projects are community driven and that Laravel could continue without Taylor. However Laravel has grown bigger than just some random framework and with that has a responsibility to its users.

I do not believe at all that it is rude to ask what the backup plan is. I get asked this same thing by my customers. It is a responsible question to ask when deciding to rely your business on a new ecosystem.

Lastly, Forge is not open source (as far as I know). I think that it is completely fair to ask about that.

Why is it rude to ask about contingency and backup plans? And why shouldn't I ask and be interested if any future plans exist for the framework.

If you think the questions are out of bounds just because its an open source project then maybe it is you who doesn't fully understand open source?

After all, I am a member of the community making enquiries about the project which is an open one, not privately owned.

We keep saying Open Source, however that is kinda one of my questions. Yes the code open and available however as I previously asked "does Snappy feel any ownership and it?"

I know of an open source project that was developed by people that were supported by an organization. Once that project became succesful the organization claimed partial ownership of it and closed it from its community. Could this happen with Laravel? Has Snappy agreed that it is Taylor's and is forever open sourced?

Snappy is owned by UserScape. Taylor works part time at UserScape and there is no cross over in ownership.

Previously before Taylor went part time, UserScape allowed Taylor to work on Laravel every Friday as a way of contributing to open source.

To reiterate. Laravel is all Taylors doing.

@ericbarnes thank you

It seems my question has caused a bit of a storm and I just want to apologize to anybody who was offended, especially @TaylorOtwell. I don't want him to get hit by a bus.

@devinfd or maybe a CommandBus ...... @TaylorOtwell