WordPress install is too slow, so I created this 90 second installer. | Hacker News Reader

WordPress install is too slow, so I created this 90 second installer.

setupbot.com

20 pointsgotrythis23 comments

I honestly believe that people who can't figure their way around wget, tar, chmod, etc have no business trying to install and administer Wordpress or PHPBB or any of the other common web apps.

They are too often attacked and exploited, that anyone who attempts to run them really needs to know what they are doing, and at least have basic knowledge about infosec and Linux.

It's cruel to give those people the tools to (in 90 seconds) lead them down a path to getting owned.

...and thus, markets emerge.

You say on the home page:

> All information is sent over secure https and no information is kept, even temporarily.

The install process asks for FTP server details over port 21. To me, this is misleading - passwords etc. may be encrypted on their way to your server, but from your server to the user's web server it's all going in plaintext.

I'll check into this. We're also working on supporting sFTP.

We're going to make some changes to correct this. Thank you for pointing it out.

Hey fellow HNers. I'm trying to decide if there is real value in this and if I should do something with it... or maybe WordPress will buy it from me. It can do incredibly complex installs for web apps very fast. Please let me know what you think.

It might be interesting as an open source project, but I can't see it as having too much value, especially with hosting services like Dreamhost giving people 1 click installs of Wordpress.

That is a possibility I'm also considering. There are also commercial applications that hosts like dreamhost obviously cannot install for people. And this would always have the most up-to-date version, maintained by the application writer.

Dreamhost and other providers DO have simple installers for things like WordPress. Most good providers do. If people are using these hosts, they won't need your tool.

Honestly I'd be worried if I saw somebody using a tool like this to install WordPress. Too much potential for abuse.

It's not that I don't trust you, but I don't trust the other nefarious guy who will build SEO and setup a site to install corrupted versions of WordPress for people.

I'd say WordPress should be beating down your door to buy this from you.

But that's just my opinion.

Thanks. That would be nice!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastico_(web_hosting)

That's part of the puzzle, but not the whole solution. Doesn't help for commercial apps. I guess I should have made it more clear that the WordPress part is just a demo of the concept, not the end goal, as nice it would be for WordPress to buy it.

90 seconds is too long (if that's your angle).

"WampDeveloper Pro" installs it in literally 2.5 seconds.

There is also Installatron, Softaculous, Simple Scripts (which can go the FTP route), Fantastico. Then there is Microsoft Platform Installer (for IIS). And probably a few more.

> I'm raising money for another project, and my hope is that WordPress or someone like them will license or buy SetupBOT outright.

That's going to be difficult. This market is completely saturated and is nothing new.

All those are for opensource apps, which of course WordPress is. Maybe not a market for WordPress, maybe there is, for servers that don't have one of those options installed. The idea in mind was for commercial applications as well.

UPDATE:

We have been so far approached by four companies that do WordPress installs for a living. This sums it up: "I do wordpress web dev and it is annoying to setup so many sites over and over. This could be very helpful."

While I got some good feedback that we're going to act on, most of the comments were saying that hosts have built in things for this, so there isn't a need, or something similar. While for the most part these comments were there to help, some were not and they were missing the point... and we are aware of the other options for installing WordPress.

SetupBOT can be used for any web application that gets installed on servers, not just WordPress. WordPress was just an example, because it's free. I made a mistake with my choice in post title and perhaps missed out on some opportunity because of that.

As for WordPress, some people are manually installing it, which is why there is a manual install option on the WordPress site, and it's a pain. Also, companies specialize in installing WordPress bundled with themes and plugins, which SetupBOT can handle, and they are telling us that it is a pain for them too.

Thank you to the community for helping us connect with companies in that market. We'll investigate if that is the right option for us.

Of course, my ideal would be to sell to larger companies, like WordPress itself, or other companies that sell software that gets installed on servers, for instance support software Kyako.com.

i would say open source it, and try to contribute to the project http://wordpress.org/download/svn/ you might end up getting hired if not by them by someone else who does heavy wordpress development

Most of the cPanel installations usually already have quick installers for all popular CMSs including wordpress.

True. Lots of commercial apps and of course they do have an install on their site, which is quite the process. Could be replaced. Maybe WordPress will see this, and they can decide if it's of value to them.

Also see: http://www.simplescripts.com/script_details/install:Wordpres...

Thanks. The WordPress install is just an example. It can be configured to install any application fairly quickly.

Whoa... I haven't heard the word 'InstallShield' in YEARS! thanks for hitting me with a thick whiff of nostalgia haha.

Guess I kinda dated myself there, lol.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com