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Poll: OpenAds Now OpenX - I Miss phpAdsNew
TechcrunchUK's Mike Butcher sent over a tip about yet another name change for the ad server formerly known as phpAdsNew. What was known as OpenAds, you know the one who just grabbed $15.5 million in funding, is now OpenX.
OpenX explains the name change as, "We needed to create a name for our company that has not just one dimension (it is an appropriate name for an open source ad server), but many dimensions (e.g. will extend to other products as well). Changing a name is a very difficult decision, and we did not take this task lightly. We spent months choosing a name. Mel and I finally came to a decision with OpenX, and we stand behind it. I can promise you that this is the last time."
Butcher has an overview of the name changes, "phpAds, phpAdsNew, phpPgAds, Max Media Manager, OpenAds, and finally OpenX" As Butcher notes, this is an issue for the brand and I agree with him. I actually miss phpAdsNew and am disappointed that I upgraded to OpenAds as the system is complete overkill. Perhaps there is a startup opportunity there - a simple ad server because OpenAds is anything but simple. And this comes after 12+ years working with the largest (and most expensive) ad servers.
While OpenX is saying they won't change their name again, we want your opinion. Leave your thoughts in the comments or vote in the poll below.
I haven't got around to trying it yet but Adregate which has recently launched has been in development for a while on the promise of being a simpler ad server. Might be worth a CenterNetworks review.
I fired up openx over the weekend just needing an ad solution that has geo ip functionality.
Openx is definitely complicated and clunky. I notice that a lot of the support links in the installer for troubleshooting now just point to the homepage. Example: http://www.openx.org/help/2.4/install/timezone/
Actually, I had to look at Google cached pages to get the old content because it has been removed from the admin guide. May be backing off of install docs is a strategy for selling the hosted solution.
So it's up and running.. it's doing what I wanted: showing ads based on the geolocation of the viewers ip. It uses a free database from Maxmind that will show continents and countries. To get deeper, like city, you need to pay maxmind for a database and updates, which I plan to do.
I've checked out adgregator, but doubt it has geo ip. Can anyone recommend another ad server where I can configure my own ads to show by geo ip?
Cheers,
W
http://adregate.com/ as well. The owner is pretty cool. We have exchanged a few emails. I bet if you email him he is willing to listen to what you need. He may be able to add geo-ip to his software.
I don't know, people want free, and that's where it stops.
Free software is an open process, if you think something is clunky, work with the people and improve it. Only a small part of the development is writing code, there is a lot more to it than that and I am sure the OpenX people will listen because the objective is to improve it.
Point taken, software developers and programmers are not always the smartest UI people, which is another reason why I think they will be interested in feedback. At least any sane person would. :)
Personally on the issue - most people in advertising who I know absolutely love OpenAds. Yeah, they didn't have to set it up (I did that), but they really like to use it.
Hi Winston
Thanks for highlighting the problem with documentation links. Please don't think there's anything sinister behind it, just a misconfigured RewriteRule.
My apologies for any inconvenience. Please feel free to send me an email with any other feedback.
cheers,
Oliver George
OpenX Ltd