The End of Kaya

[oren]

Kaya.gs had been down for about a month, and it looks like there is now a posting about it on their blog site.

http://kayags.blogspot.com/2013/10/about-kayags.html

[dfunkt]

To think, I was fool enough to waste $35 in order for those guys to have a year off work.

[Javaness2]

but the server did have Fischer time

[jts]

but the server did have Fischer time

And a great escaper policy

[Bantari]

but the server did have Fischer time

And a great escaper policy

But no business plan and no solid development strategy.
So the guys took the money, had fun playing around for a while, and then when the money run out moved off to more profitable things.

Not sure why people seem surprised.

What I find interesting, though, that ever since Kaya went belly-up, the attacks on KGS seem to have subsided both in number and in viciousness.
Coincidence? Possibly...

[oren]

Not sure why people seem surprised.

Who is surprised?

[HermanHiddema]

To think, I was fool enough to waste $35 in order for those guys to have a year off work.

So the guys took the money, had fun playing around for a while, and then when the money run out moved off to more profitable things.

I don't think that is a fair characterization. Although I was always sceptical of the long-term viability of Kaya as a business, I do think they had good intentions.

[Bantari]

To think, I was fool enough to waste $35 in order for those guys to have a year off work.

So the guys took the money, had fun playing around for a while, and then when the money run out moved off to more profitable things.

I don't think that is a fair characterization. Although I was always sceptical of the long-term viability of Kaya as a business, I do think they had good intentions.

I believe they did too.
But you need to have a plan when you leave your job.
As I keep repeatedly saying throughout the lifespan of Kaya.

[tomukaze]

More room for Nova then! A much much much better go server/website!

[Boidhre]

To think, I was fool enough to waste $35 in order for those guys to have a year off work.

So the guys took the money, had fun playing around for a while, and then when the money run out moved off to more profitable things.

I don't think that is a fair characterization. Although I was always sceptical of the long-term viability of Kaya as a business, I do think they had good intentions.

I think this is very true. I never got the sense off them that they weren't in it for any other reason than to make a go server. Unfortunately I never got the sense that they knew what they were doing either.

I don't mind giving them some money though, it was a nice experiment and the code might go onto other projects, or at least the concepts perhaps.

[wineandgolover]

The least classy goodbye I've seen in a while. No thank you's and no apologies.

[Bantari]

The least classy goodbye I've seen in a while. No thank you's and no apologies.

How do you say a classy goodbye to something you had so much hopes for and what proved to be such a disappointment?
And apologies for what? Donating money? Putting time to test it? Or what? I don't get it...

For all its worth - I hope Kaya will be back, in some form.
Was a great project. All it needed was some solid structure behind it to soar...

But for now - R.I.P.
Life goes on.

[leichtloeslich]

Didn't they promise somewhere that if development ever stalls, they will opensource it?
Is it opensource yet?

(Appearently there's "openkaya" on github. Is that the complete code?)

[coderboy]

I'm sorry that it did not pan out. Unfortunately, from the very first version I got to test, I knew it would never work out, the developers were not focusing on, in my humble opinion, important aspects of making a thriving go server / community. Things like UI, ease of use, and even community chat/rooms got a back seat to things like video broadcasts, fisher time and other things that could have been added later.
The UI is by far my biggest pet peeve. It looked nice but lacked simplicity and focus. KGS in all its ugliness and 90's java look just works in this respect, everything is very clear, the board, the stones, and the clock.

The features Kaya did manage to implement, were very impressive, but I am all too familiar with the "feature creep" problem in software engineering. Unless you get the most important features in first, they will never get in there.

Or maybe I am just a bitter old game developer who prefers my applications to run native in full screen and don't believe in all this fancy html stuff people keep insisting on is "write once, run everywhere". Now where did I hear that term used before...

(For full disclosure, I did back the project, something I do not regret, it had potential and I really want to see a go server that actually adds features and support tablets/future platforms)

[wineandgolover]

The least classy goodbye I've seen in a while. No thank you's and no apologies.

How do you say a classy goodbye to something you had so much hopes for and what proved to be such a disappointment?
And apologies for what? Donating money? Putting time to test it? Or what? I don't get it...

For all its worth - I hope Kaya will be back, in some form.
Was a great project. All it needed was some solid structure behind it to soar...

But for now - R.I.P.
Life goes on.

I dunno, something like this?

And finally, I'd like to offer a few words to those of you who supported Kaya, whether it be through donations, bug reports, suggested improvements, or merely hanging out and playing. Thank you so much. It's not easy to create something brand new, but you encouraged us to keep trying, each and every day. And also, our apologies, we truly regret that this project didn't work out. We can assure you it wasn't due to a lack of effort, but if we were starting anew, knowing what we do today, there are several things we would have done differently. We promise to carry the lessons learned with us through our careers. If there is any way we can help you or others succeed in improving the world of go, just let us know. We promise to do what we can.