Thanks, I certainly don't want to worry too much but, at the same time, the data is a big component of the value proposition in this case and likely what cost us more (more than the actual development of the service, for example).
So much so that we are likely to make more money by giving access to the data via API to other companies than by allowing "normal" people to search through the data and get paid a referral fee every time they click on something.
By why should we avoid the latter as an additional revenue stream? I'd rather try and make it more difficult for people to scrape it (and I don't want to ask people to accept T&C before making a search)
how is not being able to serve everyone who wants to buy one a problem?
This is a charity with a very clear goal:
"promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing"
as long as they can achieve that they are a success and not being a business means they can gladly "ignore" everyone else.
I really want one (or three) but if they are hit but astonishing demand and decide to give priority to those who will serve they overall purpose the best and not me I'm fine with it. I will not start complaining all over the interweb and accuse them of being a failure.
can they be used to do similar things? yes. are there overlapping use cases? indeed. Are they going to overlap more and more as time goes by and they try to expand out of their niches? absolutely.
But they fall squarely in different categories: Riak KV, MongoDB document (and HBase Column, Neo4J Graph for example)
I understand the frustration but are we so used to instant feedback that we don't even try to resolve our issues anymore before shouting out loud about them on the interweb?
You got an email this morning, shit happens. Try to reason with them and if, and only if, that fails and you feel you are right (as you indeed are) then mount an internet campaign.
Thanks