OpenCart Community

Unfortunately Drugoe.de has failed due to Covid-19. I am using their Canada Post module, and was using the FedEx module as well, but it failed about the time they went under. The Canada Post module is running fine for now but I would like to sort out the FedEx issues and also add DHL and possible UPS to the mix.
How many people are using their products? I think it is well worth continuing the development of this very useful Shipping Extension and I am sure anyone who did use it wants to be continued.
There is still a wayback version of their site for archival purposes...
https://web.archive.org/web/20201026145 ... drugoe.de/
So, my question is - how many people used it and would be interested in trying to get it up and running?
Many of the processes in their code are opensource such as the 3D Packer, and I suspect others. Not sure how copyright works when the company has abandoned the product - is this not abandonware? Any developers want to chime in on that?
Thanks!

See no reason why other developers shall not be possible to continue - does no matter if OpenSource or not.
If enough is paid ..

If you're willing to pay, any experienced developer can pick up and update extensions for you. Send me an email or message in Skype and we'll discuss the details.

Am I the only person in Canada using Drugoe's Canada Post Smart and Flexible?

The lack of response is weird as it was a great product and really simplified my shipping processes a tremendous amount with Canada Post. It also would share data with other extensions such as FedEx and UPS so quotes were more accurate.

I figured there would be a crowd of Canadian OpenCart store owners interested in continuing this extension and its features.

Uhm... my reply wasn't enough for you? Yet if you want someone to do this for free, you should prepare yourself for a long, long wait then.

Newbie developer might get this one for free expecting some sales, but not a senior developer for sure. Trust me, your vision of the market and demand is waaaaay different from reality.

jrr wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 3:59 am

I figured there would be a crowd of Canadian OpenCart store owners.

There are, but their all Chinese and they make their own arrangements :-).

thekrotek wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:11 am

Uhm... my reply wasn't enough for you? Yet if you want someone to do this for free, you should prepare yourself for a long, long wait then.

Newbie developer might get this one for free expecting some sales, but not a senior developer for sure. Trust me, your vision of the market and demand is waaaaay different from reality.

What's up with you today ?
Nowhere is he asking for free assistance, asking if others are interested at this stage, obviously prepared to pay with maybe shared cost of others interested no?

mikeinterserv wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:16 am

What's up with you today ?
Nowhere is he asking for free assistance, asking if others are interested at this stage, obviously prepared to pay with maybe shared cost of others interested no?

Nothing with me at all, I simply supposed that the guy is waiting for someone to simply make updates and upload to Marketplace. Considering that he never contacted me and posted some kind of "nobody's interested?" reply, I think my latest message was pretty valid.

thekrotek wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:22 am

mikeinterserv wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:16 am

What's up with you today ?
Nowhere is he asking for free assistance, asking if others are interested at this stage, obviously prepared to pay with maybe shared cost of others interested no?

I simply supposed that the guy is waiting for someone to simply make updates and upload to Marketplace.

Well if I was a server I would throw that as an error :-)
I honestly think he thought there were loads of users of the extension that would be rendered in difficulty and that they may organise ( paid probably to someone like yourself ) to keep it going. Text like this, email and SMS is so easy for misunderstandings and lack of tone etc, happens to me ALL the time :-)

Anyway, I offered my help, nobody tried to contact me, so... Even if lots of Canadian stores using this extension, doesn't mean that they all read these forums. And among those who read these forums only a few will read this topic. If I were OP, I would expect much response from other store owners willing to cooperate. Chances are quite low, unfortunately.

The bitter truth is people return to this forum only when they have some issues to be fixed or need in help. Not to the help each other. Even looking at the OP post it has only 150 post since from 2017.

thekrotek wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:11 am

Uhm... my reply wasn't enough for you? Yet if you want someone to do this for free, you should prepare yourself for a long, long wait then.

Newbie developer might get this one for free expecting some sales, but not a senior developer for sure. Trust me, your vision of the market and demand is waaaaay different from reality.

I have used some of your (Krotek) extensions and help in the past and had been happy with the results...I was waiting for other store owners to chime in.

Perhaps I should have expanded - I am not looking for a free ride, rather I thought a number of Canadians would be using the shipping extension and now, with nowhere to go for support (Drugoe has folded up due to Covid losses), they would be interested in joining together to find a friendly developer and work together to maintain the application and possibly expand it.

Shipping is one of the biggest pains in a small online business that deals nationally or internationally and anything that makes it work easier for both the store owner and the customer is to be cherished.

A major rewrite of an application or extension could cost into the thousands for a good developer to pick up. I would have posted this in the developer area if I was ready for a developer to quote, but first I needed to see if there was a demand for doing this or if I would probably have to face it alone.

I've looked over the other OC shipping solutions and nothing was close to the power, reliability, and simplicity of the Drugoe one.

khnaz35 wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:04 am

The bitter truth is people return to this forum only when they have some issues to be fixed or need in help. Not to the help each other. Even looking at the OP post it has only 150 post since from 2017.

I check in periodically and offer advice where I think it is useful. I am still learning OC, even after a couple of years, so keep my comments where I think they will be useful and not bad advice. I also only switched my store to OC back in 2019 from oscMax - I found that switching carts is a major investment in time - I registered in '17 to see what OC was like and bit the bullet two years later.

I have done many thousands of tech advice posts in my field (arcade game electronics) since the early 90s.

One reason for folks not repeat posting here is simple. As far as I can tell the "Notify me when a reply is posted" is broken, so the only way you know if someone has replied to your post or followup is if you log in and look. This notification is a huge incentive to post and followup, such that I can't imagine why this hasn't been fixed, it is not a good example of how senior management takes care of we little people - who make the effort... The Notifications brings people back to the forum, where other messages may catch one's eye and lead to a higher interaction rate.

jrr wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 3:16 pm

One reason for folks not repeat posting here is simple. As far as I can tell the "Notify me when a reply is posted" is broken, so the only way you know if someone has replied to your post or followup is if you log in and look.

For me it works just fine. It simply notifies you only once until you visit the topic mentioned in the notification.

jrr wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:50 am

Not sure how copyright works when the company has abandoned the product - is this not abandonware?

This would depend on the license the software was released under and the law in the country where the company was base. For example, the copyright would likely be passed to the liquidator, who depending on the circumstance, could pass the copyright back to the owners of the company, sell to to raise money to pay the creditors, or even pass on to the state/crown, etc.

There would unlikely be any problem a developer making changes for you. However, there isn't much chance that they could release the modified original work as a new extension, unless allowed by the license or law of that country.

ADD Creative wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:00 pm

jrr wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:50 am

Not sure how copyright works when the company has abandoned the product - is this not abandonware?

This would depend on the license the software was released under and the law in the country where the company was base. For example, the copyright would likely be passed to the liquidator, who depending on the circumstance, could pass the copyright back to the owners of the company, sell to to raise money to pay the creditors, or even pass on to the state/crown, etc.

There would unlikely be any problem a developer making changes for you. However, there isn't much chance that they could release the modified original work as a new extension, unless allowed by the license or law of that country.

Thanks for the feedback. The extension was developed in Germany - so I imagine you are correct and that while I can get someone to adjust the program as I need it it is unlikely that is would be legally possible to relaunch it.

Therefor I assume that I need to find a developer who is familiar with writing/editing package shipping functions...

thekrotek wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:16 pm

jrr wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 30, 2022 3:16 pm

One reason for folks not repeat posting here is simple. As far as I can tell the "Notify me when a reply is posted" is broken, so the only way you know if someone has replied to your post or followup is if you log in and look.

For me it works just fine. It simply notifies you only once until you visit the topic mentioned in the notification.

I never get an email from OC regarding any posts I create or answer to. And I am careful to check all entries in my junk/spam box prior to deleting them. They just don't arrive. I get notifications about questions to developers just fine so the main OC connection works fine, just the forum doesn't send me notifications. And, yes, I have the Notify me by email box checked.

I see the notifications (including ones to this post) in my Profile/Manage Notifications but they are not sent to me nor can I see any way to toggle notifications on/off.
I'll see what happens when I turn off the Notify me when a reply is posted and see...

jrr wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 31, 2022 2:12 am

I'll see what happens when I turn off the Notify me when a reply is posted and see...

No matter who created the extension first.
Anybody can build a new one, even it is based on the original - that will not touch the copyright or any "property rights".

I thought I'd update this post to note that in the last year I've created similar extensions to Drugoe's for FedEx and UPS:

• FedEx Pro
• UPS Pro

They don't have one-to-one feature parity, but are mostly comparable, and I've had at least one user tell me the rates are more accurate in mine. They both use the new FedEx/UPS APIs as well, so they won't be affected by the older APIs being deprecated.

If anyone has any questions, or any issues with the extensions, they can reach out to me at www.getclearthinking.com/contact

I would be interested in keeping it updated.