James from ShareLaTeX here. I'm hanging around all day today ready for the barrage of pull requests that we're about to receive(!) so feel free to ask me any questions.
Thank you for a great product. We have been using it in my university to take collective notes during winter schools, it's been incredibly helpful!
Basically, we are able to produce at the end of the conference a pdf with all the course notes, illustrations and links; it's like writing the book in real time.
I do, however the issue is I had to make them publicly editable. If I post the link on HN, I'm worried about what would happen.. Do you want to see the sharelatex document, or would a pdf suffice?
Really cool to see this! I'm sure the effort required to make it open source will pay off in fostering an active technical community. Given the target market I'm sure you have many highly skilled users who would love (at the very least) to fix their favorite bugs.
On a related note, recently at http://paperpile.com/ we've been thinking about ways to help our users connect their reference manager with web-based writing environments like ShareLaTeX. We've had some ideas about how to do this simply and cleanly, but I suppose now we could show you guys (via pull request) rather than tell now. :-)
We'd love to start pushing forward on some reference manager integrations, so a pull request would be amazing! It might be best to have a quick chat about how to implement this. My email should be in my profile.
Great work, James. I think I'll fork this code and give it look-see.
I manage the dissertation/thesis template for my department on github. The assembly and dissemination of this template is a purely student-run effort. Typically the task of managing it gets passed to a new student when the previous manager graduates.
The problem I've found with managing it this way is that I'll invariably get a slew of emails from students throughout the semester wanting me to troubleshoot their LaTeX installs to make the template work. 99% of the time the problem is on their end, 1% of the time it results in something that actually improves the template somehow. It would be awesome if I could just point them to your service where a hosted (and guaranteed to work) version of the template resides.
Can I just shoot you a github link[1] to get it incorporated or is there some other process I should go through? (e.g., would you prefer me to send you a zip? I figure what's the point since it's already on github, but if you prefer that approach I can get you a zip)
> The assembly and dissemination of this template is a purely student-run effort. Typically the task of managing it gets passed to a new student when the previous manager graduates.
This was the unwritten ritual at my department when I was in graduate school too. But no one there really used VCS. Who knows how long that thing had been passed around and tweaked.
Basically, we wanted to! We've benefited hugely from open source projects ourselves, and have always enjoyed being part of the community surrounding them. It seems like the default state is to not be open source, but we realised that since we own and run the business behind ShareLaTeX, we had the freedom to play by our own rules. We also think it makes sense from a business point of view as well, since it will (hopefully) make us accessible to a wider audience, particularly onsite installations that we don't have the resources to support as a proprietary 'enterprise' system.
I (and I suspect many others here) would be very interested to know what effect this will have on your turnover. I guess you will get some increased revenue as others have indicated in this thread, but also loose some for those who just fire up their own installation.
Presumably you won't really know until your try it, but do you have any data to support that it might increase your revenue (assuming of course that is a goal here - rather than just growth of the number of users of your software - I realise that the two can go hand-in-hand!).
We don't have any hard data - this is based on our personal vision, and our understanding of our user base. People mostly use ShareLaTeX because: 1) There is no installation, 2) You can access it anywhere, 3) You can collaborate easily and effectively without needing to be technical and know git/svn/etc. I don't think being open source will threaten any of those points, but it will make ShareLaTeX accessible to the large group of people who want to run a local version but haven't been able to so far.
It will be interesting to see how things look in a months time. I'll try to post an update!
Please do post an update. I have a side project I'm starting that will be a paid service, but I'd like to AGPL it in keeping with the free software philosophy.
Awesome! I happened to stumble upon ShareLaTeX just a couple of days ago, when I needed a CV and had no LaTeX installation available due to my personal laptop being broken.
I found it easy to get started, fast and overall a pleasure to use. :)
You're doing a great thing by making your platform open source. Even though you make it incredibly easy to get set up with a well written readme, I'd much rather purchase this service because it's not expensive and I know I'm supporting good people that care about contributing to the open source community. Plus, your product is awesome.
Thanks, we were a bit worried that people will stop using the site but we hope everyone is wise like yourself! I think overall the main people who will set up there own versions are those who want to work on a private network which is an group of people we have been unable to help so far.
@beck5: Your post is dead. are you banned? Think you should contact a mod, this seems to be an error.
Sharelatex is really awesome. It works well and makes it so much easier to just start writing latex. And with the preview it is even more comfortable than my desktop workflow before, which is the best compliment I can make for a web-based UI.
So, great. I used sharelatex for some really important documents, and I plan to use it for quite some more. And having it opensourced makes it more future-proof, so thanks for that.
>Thanks, we were a bit worried that people will stop using the site but we hope everyone is wise like yourself! I think overall the main people who will set up there own versions are those who want to work on a private network which is an group of people we have been unable to help so far.
This is awesome. A group of us used this to write a project for University a couple of years ago. It certainly made collaboration a lot easier, without everyone learning how to use git, for example.
There isn't a perfect way that I'm aware of. In LaTeX, the commands end up translating to direct formatting commands that only make sense in a fixed layout document, so HTML conversion will be an approximation at best. I think Pandoc (http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/) does a reasonable job though.
It may not be quite what you want, but https://www.softcover.io/ is a platform which aims to let you write eBooks in Markdown/TeX and publish them to PDF/HTML and eBook formats.
Brilliant! I used ScribTex (which I believe has now merged into ShareLaTex) a few years ago for my dissertation and it was brilliant! So much easier than maintaining a local LaTeX installation, plus being computer agnostic when working on my disseration was a huge bonus.
This looks excellent. I'll certainly try it for my next paper and will see if I can lobby our university to pay for the hosted version.
I'm assuming universities are what you are aiming for? I think you should focus on CSy departments.
Could also target conferences/journals i.e. allow them to offer access to the hosted version for people collaborating on a paper for that journal/conference.
From a business development POV, I think it would make sense to wade through university pages and collect departments that offer Latex-Templates to their students as potential contacts.
Historically, TeX and LaTeX have had their best penetration in Math, Physics, and Astronomy departments. Many journals in these fields only accept papers in TeX, and have their own templates.
A fantastic move! I've been using ShareLaTeX for quite some time, it's a great service. This move to open source really shows you're pushing your product in the right direction. Thanks :)
Our method of choice is local latex installatons + git, but this certainly looks interesting. It might be a good alternative if a less tech-savy member joins the group since it looks as if it was better for teaching and assisting people.
Well, i have been working on something similar for a little while, what is the biggest challenge when getting started with this type of SAAS? what do you wish you knew when you were getting up and running?
Would you recommend anyone to try out the same venture you guys have done?
Is there some worry about what this might do to revenue? or was there already some evidence this would do nothing evil to your business model?
Phew, lots of questions :). I've only really done this once (with ShareLaTeX), and it feels like a constant challenge in many ways. I think I'd have to try it a few more times with other products to understand which challenges are the important ones. So no big insight there, sorry.
I'd definitely recommend trying to start a business with monthly recurring revenue. It makes things quite stable and predictable, and watching it grow is like crack.
We're not that worried about this impacting our revenue. Most of our value that people pay for comes from being a hosted service.
Congratulations James & Henri! I'm very happy that my lab has been financially contributing to your work for nearly a year :-)
Anyway, I'm currently writing my thesis and I've had to stop using your product. The dropbox sync is lame (I know that the problem is on their side) and working on three different computers (usually two at the same time) is a problem. But in case of collective writing, then shareLaTeX is the most useful tool. Thank you for that and for your move!
Thank you for your support! There is a danger of sounding like a broken record, but when it comes to Dropbox sync: We're working on it, I promise! :) Dropbox recently released a new API end point that allows for long polling which should allow us to do instant synchronisation both ways. It's on our todo list!
writeLatex.com offers a live preview and it's faster overall. I really hoped this would be a better alternative because I'm already a bit disappointed in writeLatex.com's performance.
An online version of Latex sure beats the hell out of setting up a local installation though.
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[ 8.1 ms ] story [ 360 ms ] threadBasically, we are able to produce at the end of the conference a pdf with all the course notes, illustrations and links; it's like writing the book in real time.
On a related note, recently at http://paperpile.com/ we've been thinking about ways to help our users connect their reference manager with web-based writing environments like ShareLaTeX. We've had some ideas about how to do this simply and cleanly, but I suppose now we could show you guys (via pull request) rather than tell now. :-)
I manage the dissertation/thesis template for my department on github. The assembly and dissemination of this template is a purely student-run effort. Typically the task of managing it gets passed to a new student when the previous manager graduates.
The problem I've found with managing it this way is that I'll invariably get a slew of emails from students throughout the semester wanting me to troubleshoot their LaTeX installs to make the template work. 99% of the time the problem is on their end, 1% of the time it results in something that actually improves the template somehow. It would be awesome if I could just point them to your service where a hosted (and guaranteed to work) version of the template resides.
Can I just shoot you a github link[1] to get it incorporated or is there some other process I should go through? (e.g., would you prefer me to send you a zip? I figure what's the point since it's already on github, but if you prefer that approach I can get you a zip)
[1] https://github.com/hootener/LaTeX-Vanderbilt-Dissertation-Fo...
https://engineering.purdue.edu/~mark/puthesis/
Thanks.
This was the unwritten ritual at my department when I was in graduate school too. But no one there really used VCS. Who knows how long that thing had been passed around and tweaked.
Of all the students I've had email me with problems, a vast majority just grab the repo as a zip and never contribute back. Bummer.
We've written a bit more about our motivations in our blog here as well: https://www.sharelatex.com/blog/2014/02/21/sharelatex-is-now...
Presumably you won't really know until your try it, but do you have any data to support that it might increase your revenue (assuming of course that is a goal here - rather than just growth of the number of users of your software - I realise that the two can go hand-in-hand!).
It will be interesting to see how things look in a months time. I'll try to post an update!
(more visitors, more income, ...)
Could be a next HN thread ;)
Edit: the thread above mine didn't exist when i read the comments :P
I found it easy to get started, fast and overall a pleasure to use. :)
Sharelatex is really awesome. It works well and makes it so much easier to just start writing latex. And with the preview it is even more comfortable than my desktop workflow before, which is the best compliment I can make for a web-based UI.
So, great. I used sharelatex for some really important documents, and I plan to use it for quite some more. And having it opensourced makes it more future-proof, so thanks for that.
>Thanks, we were a bit worried that people will stop using the site but we hope everyone is wise like yourself! I think overall the main people who will set up there own versions are those who want to work on a private network which is an group of people we have been unable to help so far.
I'm assuming universities are what you are aiming for? I think you should focus on CSy departments.
Could also target conferences/journals i.e. allow them to offer access to the hosted version for people collaborating on a paper for that journal/conference.
From a business development POV, I think it would make sense to wade through university pages and collect departments that offer Latex-Templates to their students as potential contacts.
Thanks for opensourcing!
Thanks for open sourcing!
Open source.....
I will just come out and say it. I had funny thoughts in my head when I read that.
The official site as well as the products looks well designed (love the idea of templates). Here is the clickable link
https://www.sharelatex.com/
I'd definitely recommend trying to start a business with monthly recurring revenue. It makes things quite stable and predictable, and watching it grow is like crack.
We're not that worried about this impacting our revenue. Most of our value that people pay for comes from being a hosted service.
Anyway, I'm currently writing my thesis and I've had to stop using your product. The dropbox sync is lame (I know that the problem is on their side) and working on three different computers (usually two at the same time) is a problem. But in case of collective writing, then shareLaTeX is the most useful tool. Thank you for that and for your move!
An online version of Latex sure beats the hell out of setting up a local installation though.