Tower2 github software#
Tower2 github mac#

And the other 50% was doing the product work, developing the product. No rich aunts and uncles that gave us money. It was a hard time, because we had to split ourselves, 50% doing client work, because we had to pay the bills, of course. We had been eight people in the agency business, and we slowly started shrinking, because we knew we had to focus on one thing or the other, and started again, let’s say, with three people. Tobias It was a conscious transition, actually, but a hard one, actually. How did you make that transition? How did Fournova transition from an agency to a product company?

So, we turned the business around, from client work to product work, the product that it is, around seven years into the business now.īart Transitioning from client work to product development may seem easy on paper, but it's challenging.

Tower2 github mac#

We had a great deal of experience with web technologies, but not with Mac desktop technologies. When Git came along, and there was no graphical user interface, we thought maybe that’s our first product, maybe that’s worthy of our time, and we really started working on a graphical user interface, without knowing the platform, actually. We’ve always been a technical company, even back in those days, with the internet agency business, but we knew we wanted to do something different, too. I think around 2009, around that time, we discovered Git, Git version control system, and started working with it. We made websites for corporates, for companies. Tobias Originally, 13 years back, I think it’s 13 years back, it was an internet agency. For people not familiar with Fournova and Tower, could you talk a little bit about the origins of Fournova and when you decided to focus on Tower? Mentioned in the Interviewīart I don't think I ever asked you about the origins of Fournova.

Tower2 github software#

I wanted to ask Tobias a few questions about running a software business in today's economy. The company has been around for more than a decade and it seems to be doing well. Fournova is best known for Tower, one of the best Git clients for macOS and Windows. Move first citation marker.A few weeks ago, I got in touch with Tobias Günther, CEO of Fournova. As a side-note, I think this would not be as much an issue if Git Tower's annual pay-to-play price was closer to US $30. Instead, Fournova has chosen a pay-to-play subscription model which means that after the first year, users simply have to trust that another year's subscription fee will be worth it.Īdditionally, pay-to-play turns Git Tower's users' workflow familiarity into a financial dependency/liability and this seems ill-advised in a world where software and platforms can shift with little to no predictability.įor my part, I am going to wait 12-18 months before even trying Git Tower 3 because I don't want to become dependent on the new features with no recourse except to pony up US $69 in 12 short months. With the 'cash cow' model users pay only after they've decided from themselves that the developer has provided enough value to justify the cost of another yearly subscription. You won’t get any new features, or even bug fixes, but you can keep using the last copy of the app that you downloaded.

> get new features and bug fixes for one year, but after that you are on your own again until you make a new purchase. I think a more reasonable model would be what Drew McCormack calls the 'cash cow' subscription model where users pay for a 12-month subscription and will Access to Tower ends when a subscription expires', which in my opinion is not an appropriate model for software that leverages open source technology such as Git.

I'm also disappointed by Fournova's decision to go subscription, especially since they are choosing a pay-to-play subscription model.Īccording to Julian Rothkamp of Fournova, Git Tower is moving to 'standard subscription: you’ll have access to Tower as long as your subscription is active.