Interview with CoWAIN
This is an interview from Johannes, founder of Cloudron and CoWAIN, an avid Cloudron user.
Johannes: Please introduce yourself
Meike: I am a consultant and co-founder of the Company Without an Interesting Name (CoWAIN). We are designing and creating web applications with a strong focus on open source software, combined with data security and safety.
Meike, please tell us which products you used before you came to Cloudron
Related to Cloudron apps, we've been using self-hosted software like RocketChat, NextCloud, LibreOffice, GitLab, OpenProject - to name just the major ones. Sometimes customers or partners invited us to Google Docs, Jira, or their Slack channel. We are so focused on free and open source that in those moments it somehow feels awkward to consent to that.
What was your reason for using Cloudron?
Besides reducing the maintenance effort for our self-hosted solutions: the possibility to easily try out other FOSS tools like a shared password storage, a newsletter tool, or CRM.
Conformance to GDPR is a unique selling proposition for us, therefore we only use web services that are under our own control. The campaign of the Free Software Foundation Europe is so true: "There is no cloud, just other people's computers". It gives me pains to see how carelessly many web agencies use free-of-charge web applications in their teams and with their customers although they have signed non-disclosure agreements. They might have had their reasons (software administration) back then. But having heard of Cloudron, this is no excuse any more.
What do you like most about Cloudron?
Clearly: "admin inside". The discussions about introducing a new team tool and maintenance capacities are gone for good. Plus the Cloudron team is very friendly and responsive. Truly "community people".
Which apps do you use on Cloudron?
- Rocket.chat for team communication
- Nextcloud for archiving files and sharing folders with our customers
- OnlyOffice integration in NextCloud for collaborative usage of text documents and spreadsheets
- GitLab for development versioning and issue management
- CodiMD for quick collaborative text drafts
- PrivateBin mainly for one-time password reveals
- Kimai for time tracking
- BookStack for documentation management
- OpenVPN for virtual private networks
- Rainloop Webmail to avoid port restrictions in some places
Maybe more to come.
Thank you, Meike
Thank you, Cloudron team :-)