Professional Services
=====================

We regularly receive requests on GitHub or on our private email to implement
difficult or niche features or to provide commercial support.

The company that the creator of Py4J works for, `Resulto
<http://www.resulto.ca/en/>`_, has agreed to provide professional services for
Py4J. This means that you can hire Resulto if you want:

- a feature to be implemented quickly
- a special license that comes with commercial support
- custom integration with your code

The creator of Py4J, Barthélémy, **will not stop** developing Py4J for free,
quite the opposite, but large or niche features that require uninterrupted
hours of R&D/thinking do not always fit in the limited personal time of the
Py4J contributors.

In the end, professional services should greatly benefit Py4J users because new
features will be introduced in the code base and bugs will inevitably be fixed
along the way.

If you are interested in professional services for Py4J, please get in touch
with us at `bart@resulto.ca <mailto:bart@resulto.ca>`_.


FAQ
---

Will you stop supporting Py4J or implementing features for free?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No. Barthélémy will continue with exactly the same schedule: intense bursts of
open source activity followed by answering bug reports and merging pull
requests only. If you want a complex feature to be implemented and Barthélémy
does not have the time on his personal time, you are welcome to implement it and
make a pull request.


If I hire Resulto to implement a feature, how does the copyrights and licensing work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless the feature integrates with a proprietary part of your system, we
prefer to make the work open source following :ref:`Py4J's implicit contributor
agreement <license_and_copyrights>`.


Who is Resulto?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`Resulto <http://www.resulto.ca/en/>`_ is a small software development company
that started in April 2014. Their main product is a personalized
marketing/customer retention platform, `LoyalAction
<http://www.loyalaction.com/en/>`_. Resulto also offers `professional services
<http://www.resulto.ca/en/services/>`_ to build custom platforms and
infrastructure. If you hire Resulto to work on Py4J, Barthelemy will likely
lead the effort, but other developers may also participate.

As a bonus, Resulto is located in Canada, so their currency is extremely cheap
these days :-D


Is Resulto the new owner of Py4J?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No, Resulto is just a company offering professional services related to Py4J.


Will Py4J survive if Resulto does not get enough services requests?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, neither Py4J nor Resulto need each other in order to thrive. This is just
an offer that has the potential to be convenient and useful for all parties
involved: Py4J users, clients, and Resulto.


How does professional services work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Professional services can be provided in many ways: license, formal contract
with NDA, or simple email exchange followed by a paypal payment.

Usually, you will contact Resulto with a description of your needs, and you
will receive a proposition with a fixed rate and fixed amount of hours so you
get no surprise on your side and you do not write a blank check.

If the feature requires some R&D and the outcome is uncertain, Resulto will
likely suggest to do some investigation work first before committing to a fixed
rate and fixed amount of hours.


How can I contact Resulto?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just send us an email with a description of your requirements or your questions
at `bart@resulto.ca <mailto:bart@resulto.ca>`_
