30Boxes was one of the first plugins we added to PBworks back when the service was still called PBwiki. This simple calendaring application let our users add a shared calendar to any workspace, and to have that calendar show up on multiple pages. And while 30Boxes has never been used by most of our users, it has a loyal following.
Unfortunately, 30Boxes has become an “orphan” product. Its creators have moved on to other projects, and last week, the entire service suffered a 1-day outage. While service has since been restored, it seems clear that without future investment of resources, it is likely 30Boxes will become less viable.
While we could simply keep 30Boxes as a plugin and simply offer it on an “as is” basis, we don’t feel that this is good for our user experience. Therefore, we have decided to phase out the 30Boxes plugin.
The first step, which we have already undertaken, is to disable new insertions of the 30Boxes plugin. We cannot in good conscience allow people to add a service we fear will not be reliable in the future.
The next step, which will take place on June 30, will be the disabling of the 30Boxes plugin. After that, existing insertions will stop working as well.
We’ve chosen a date more than 90 days in the future to give our users plenty of time to seek alternatives. This may involve using our HTML/JavaScript plugin to insert the calendaring service of their choice, or using other features within PBworks as an alternative.
For Business users, here is the relevant HTML/JavaScript documentation. And here is the equivalent HTML/JavaScript documentation for our Personal and Education users.
UPDATE:
It sounds like 30boxes is a key part of many of your wikis. As a result, we’ve come up with a compromise solution that will lessen our exposure to any potential 30boxes shutdown, while allowing you to continue using the product.
On July 1, while we will no longer support the embedding of the 30boxes calendar, any existing embeds will link to the same calendar on the 30boxes.com website. This way, you can maintain access to 30boxes if you wish to continue using the product despite the warning signs, but we can prevent a 30boxes outage from affecting the wiki pages on which they’ve been embedded.