Expand open source reach

Jeff Kaplan, Software as a service specialist, mentioned SQLFusion in a blog post trying to dispell some Saas myths.

I definitely recommend you to have a look at his post and blog: ( Click here )

To add one point to Jeff's post, I would like to mention that Open Source Fusion (SQLFusion on-demand platform) not only provides open source software as a service, but additionally it allows a company to get customized/integrated open source software if needed. That software can either be developed by the company technical team using Open Source Fusion development tools or it can be developed by SQLFusion open source specialists for this company.

In other words, Open Source Fusion offers the best of what Saas can offer, giving you the choice between the one size fits all option (picking and using one of the many existing open source software for CRM, ERP, CMS, etc.) or a customized/integrated solution that matches the specificities of a business, building upon open source software.

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Tag: Innovation | Software | Open Source | Open Source Fusion | SQLFusion | Saas

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...does Open Source really kill innovation?

If there is one key theme most people debate when considering Open Source as a threat, this is most likely regarding innovation.

Read for instance the very good article in the Economist published this past week - Open but not usual - which quotes Steven Weber, a political scientist at the University of California Berkely and author of "The success of Open Source" stating that "Linux is good at doing what other things already have done, but more cheaply - but can it do anything new? Wikipedia is an assembly of already-known knowldege."

The underlying idea behind such scepticism on the ability of an open source model - some sort of communal method of software development - to generate innovation, comes from the belief that innovation has value and if you have an innovative idea, you would rather pursue it for your own profit, than share it with the community and have no take in the resulting benefit. Afterall Bernard Mandeville told us centuries ago that it is better for society as a whole if we are acting as bees looking for our own profit blindlessly, didn't he?

Steven Weber is probably partly true. However it doesn't take into account the indirect impact Open Source can have on the industry as a whole. Take Firefox web browser for instance. That is true that it mostly reuses existing concepts. But the indirect - and positive effect - it has on innovation, is in pressuring Microsoft to move faster in developing and releasing a new, somewhat innovative Internet explorer 7 fearing for its rapidly eroding market share in the web browser market. Additionally, I think we can see all the extension modules being developed on top of Firefox as true example of innovation.

Another good example of how Open Source can push vendors innovation can be found in the article "Oracle: Open source keeps vendors on their toes" in Infoworld. Oracle purchased a few companies involved in producing Open Source software - Sleepycat and InnoDB - and is starting to feel some pressure from an Open Source database vendor, MySQL. It seems clear that Open Source by commoditising what already exists, push vendors to innovate so that they can keep charging businesses that are ready to pay a premium for getting the latest technology.

In conclusion, I would argue that Open Source contributes tremendously to innovation. If only in one way, that is by pushing software vendors to move away from offering "plain vanilla" type of software and bring in new features, new technologies faster and better. The on-going catching-up game between what Open Source can develop and what a professional vendor develops is key to innovation for the overall software industry, including the growing software as a service industry.

I believe that Open Source can innovate itself as well. I mentioned earlier the example of extensions in Firefox, which I haven't seen matched in any other browser. But I would also like to come back to the idea that Open Source is a some sort of a "communal method of developement". That reminds me very much of Kibbutz in Israel, those communes where anybody can come and stay as long as they work for the Kibbutz, no matter what are their skills. Kibbutz 40 years ago where solely farms. Today, many Kibbutz have become places where many new technology are sprouting. I wouldn't be surprised if in the same way, Open Source could become a crucible for software innovation.

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Tag: Innovation | Software | Open Source | Open Source Fusion | SQLFusion | Saas

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David A. Utter mentioned SQLFusion and Open Source Fusion in an article about Open Source ERPs.

Here is an excerpt of his article:

"Lawndale, CA-based SQLFusion was the first West Coast Certified MySQL Support Partner, and is steeped in open source.[...]the company's OpenSourceFusion project, aimed at those SMBs.

Currently they have made four tools available at OpenSourceFusion, with the idea of permitting users to mashup a selection of applications to suit their needs. Frappier mentioned CK-ERP, an open source ERP system, as being among the applications they will make available through OpenSourceFusion in the coming months.

"The value we bring is not just in providing an open source self-service system for existing applications. We help users combine multiple open source applications in a custom one matching their business need, such as custom ERP systems, using our open source integration tools,"...

You can read the full article if you click here

Technorati: Open Source Fusion - SQLFusion

One of the most exciting thing in life - in my opinion - is to learn everyday. I asked a few times Philippe about the origins of the Open Source and what drawn him towards it and I was startled by his answer.

He explained to me that Open Source is about Open Knowledge. Years ago, to deal with a server, you needed to be certified in using UNIX. UNIX stations where expensive and rare to find. The documentation was expensive as well: in short knowledge was shared only by a few priviledged people. Then Linux came up and other open source projects, allowing anybody willing to learn about how to use a computer, a server and be programming to do so. Knowledge was finally easily accessible in the programming world.

I heard about another initiave yesterday while meeting with my former teacher in Operation management and learnt about another great initiative to democratize knowledge. The MIT is making available its courses online for free. For French not to be jealous, there is also access to audio record of university courses on the web. Now, those who are curious enough to learn and grow, are no longer blocked by entrance exam they pass or fail, their national origin, or their ability to fund their education: all they need is an access to the web and loads of curiosity.

We are witnessing that knowledge is shared by more and more people. Knowledge becomes accessible to whoever has the desire to learn. That's quite an exciting perspective that knowledge is no longer the priviledge of a few, isn't it?

Reuters had interesting statistics to share with us earlier this morning: "complexity causes 50% of product returns". The article was mentioning a research from Elke den Ouden, from Netherland on consumer electronics.

The most interesting part of this study is the fact that a person will spend up to 20 minutes trying to understand how a device works before giving up. The other interesting part of the study is the reaction from product developers and product managers who found themselves quite astonished by the difficulties encountered by users with their devices.

This issue - I bet - could be witnessed not only in the consumer electronics world, but also in the software world. Indeed I have seen many people struggling with software - from Windows, to Word and Excel - and most didn't even have a choice to return those software (we are not employable today, if we don't know how to use Word and Excel).

This study concluded that better product definition is key to solving complexity. Some companies are great examples of what should be done to make software easier from Apple (Mac OSX, Ipod software, etc.) to 37signals (Basecamp, etc.). You'll notice that none of those two examples are providing Open Source software. Nonetheless, I believe that Open Source can help tremendously the software industry in simplifying software through the intense exchange between developers and users.

I believe that product complexity is a stigma of the lack of interaction between a technician / inventor and end-users. In many ways Open Source communities have this problem, since this is mostly developers who get involved in an Open Source project rather than end-users. But I hope that as Open Source software - with Linux (KDE), Firefox, Wordpress, SugarCRM opening the way - is reaching more and more non-technical users, those users will add their piece to Open Source software development by leaving valuable feedback in terms of usability. As result it will help Open Source developers improve users experience with software rather than add endlessly cool features - and hopefully provide better and more usable software than closed source software.

And to give a bit more substance to that idea, you should take a look at Neil McAllister excellent article: "Community development breathes new life into old gadgets" in Infoworld. Open Source helping software and gadgets become simpler, it is already happening.