I was surprised to find that DotNetPanel hosting control panel had basically shutdown for business. I have been using DNP control panel for around 3 years, originally starting with HostingController and then Helm and finally DNP. Over all DNP seemed the most robust and easy to use, but most importantly it worked well with servers spread over different networks. That's not to say I love every part of it there is certainly parts I would change given half a chance. So now, as it turns out, I can. DotNetPanel has been released on sourceforge as an open source project called
WebsitePanel.
My first question was why?
Well I still don't know, I visit the DNP website regularly particularly when updates become available, I saw no news releases to explain the move to open source. This seems an odd move for such an established company.
I can just see it now, you get home the powers off, you ring the power company only to get the receptionist who informs you, sorry were now open source, but we are providing for free the instructions to make yourself a power station, good luck.
I a bit dramatic, perhaps slightly unrealistic you may say.
Don't get me wrong I do like open source projects, but usually projects grow round a community of developers so it will be interesting to see how this project develops. This really is the first decent open source control panel for windows and I do hope it continues to have support and move forward. It certainly will make setting up windows hosting more competitive. I think its good news for everyone.