Re: Semi-OT: Anti-password trading/sharing solutions

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Dan Trainor wrote:

I'm not quite sure why you chose the PHP community as a recipient -- There
are quite a few Apache modules out there.

And Modules such as mod_auth_mysql and mod_auth_ldap (?) and, really, any
old mod_auth_XYZ module would be a closer "match" for what you want, I
think.

I know absolutely nothing about how ProxyPass, iProtect, and PureMember
work, however, so perhaps there is something about them that just screams
"use PHP to do this"  [I doubt it though]

It seems to me, however, that you're still a bit off-target on
PHP-General, as your target audience is not those who use PHP, but those
who wrote it and maintain it, particularly the Apache Module part of it.

I believe, in fact, that the Apache Module part of it boils down to the
code Rasmus Lerdorf wrote ages and ages ago, and that mostly Rasmus (I
think) has maintained since then.

Perhaps with Apache 2, somebody else stepped up to write/maintain that
code, and I'm under-informed.

Or maybe Rasmus hasn't touched that code in ages, and somebody else is
doing it now.  Apologies to those individuals who I've slighted by not
naming them at this time.

At any rate, you're trying to get in contact with a handful of people by
sending email to thousands.  Bad Idea #1.

NOTE: Contacting Rasmus directly and offering him $$$ to do this would
maybe not be a Bad Idea.  Asking him to do it for free would be really
stupid.

Next, let's look at your proposal:

You want something that Member Sites need, to avoid the theft/sharing of
username/passwords.

So, in particular, only for-pay Member Sites need this, mostly, as there's
not much point in stealing/sharing a username/password if you can just get
one for free.

So, basically, it's a for-profit motivator that drives this request.

Yet nowhere do I see an offer of recompense for the developers who write
this software for you.  Bad Idea #2.

I highly recommend you figure out what it would be worth to you and some
of your colleagues/friends to have an OpenSource solution to rival the
current proprietary technologies.

Take up a collection or form a very loose consortium with some of your
colleagues to fund the project.

Then write up a specification for what you want done, and make an offer to
PAY somebody and fund the resources needed to get the project from its
current state (gleam in your eye) to a usable state.

You could and probably should still make it OpenSource -- Perhaps with
"Funded by: " attributions on all source code and materials to plug your
consortium and its members -- and then when it's at the stage of
usefulness that you need, you will probably find that some people are
willing to maintain it for little or no money at all.

Right now, though, you've got a lot of people seeing:

"I want you to work for me for free so I can save thousands of dollars
every month"

That ain't gonna happen, dude.

People wrote PHP and Apache and other OpenSource software because THEY
needed it for THEIR own use, and were willing to give it to you for FREE
because they knew that giving away 10,000 free copies would get them one
(1) more Developer to help build/improve the software.

They did *NOT* do it because they wanted you to be able to run your
company on free software.

Which is not to say that they *MIND* that you can do that -- Only that
they're not going to just up and code something just because *YOU* happen
to need it to run your company more efficiently.

You've got zero incentive for the Developer here -- They don't need the
Module you want, and you're not paying them.  [shrug]

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