It’s about time! Teligent Systems is finally offering Community Server on a hosted basis! In my experience, trying to install Community Server a total of four times over the past so many years, and .Text before that, I must say it is the most infuriating and difficult to install application I’ve ever come across! The only time I was able to get it installed was the most recent time for an as-yet-unannounced new website, and it wasn’t easy; believe me!
Telligent also appears to have followed Google’s lead and are calling it a Beta even though it is a live hosted account.
Personally I can’t believe it should have been that hard to install, I just think Teligent did not put enough effort into their installer. And I believe that fact alone cost Telignent a huge opportunity in the market and significantly less marketshare than was possible otherwise. Although there are many aspects about CommunityServer that I don’t like, there are many more that I do especially its blog and forum integration. There are better forums and there are better blogs, but nothing integrates like CommunityServer, at least not of which I am currently aware even on Linux.
Pricing for the service feels a little steep, but maybe not depending on the revenue generated by the forum. Clearly it’s harder to cost justify for someone putting up a new community site than it is for a company using it to support and promote their products. Here’s the pricing at the time of this writing:
Standard Plan
|
Plus Plan
|
Platinum Plan
|
$49/mo |
$99/mo |
$299/mo |
So if you run a business and don’t have a blog/forum to promote and support your products, check it out. Teligent finally made it easy.