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Thank you to open source developers

Posted on February 5, 2007
Filed Under Opensource |

This is my thanks to all the people who tirelessly develop open source software. Thank you! Thank you! Other marketers with small budgets should also thank the people that build open source software.

Here’s why…a client with a small budget approached us because they needed a custom portal and learning community to support their 60-member VAR network. At first, their plan and budget did not appear very realistic: build a portal with content management, membership management, document management, and collaboration for less than $5300 including licenses, labor and customization.

The client wanted the VAR portal to be an interactive, easy-to-use, simple-to-manage information and education vehicle. Other application project design goals were:

• Cheap software components.
• Simple installation, configuration and training.
• Standardized components and not dependent on a specific browser.
• All administration, management, content creation and workflow control must be browser-based. No dependencies on a single vendor.
• Ability to host the application with an ISP.
• No dependencies on an application service provider.

Obviously, off-the-shelf commercial portal software was not feasible. Our solution was to use open source software. The resulting portal saved the client tens of thousands of dollars, maybe more. Within 30 days, the project went from a blank sheet of paper to a fully deployed VAR portal.

HOW WE DID IT

Our first conversation was with our ISP, XNET (www.xnet.com) to make sure they could support the project. They could. No problem.

Next, we evaluated a number of open-source Content Management Platforms such as Joomla, PostNuke and PHPNuke. We selected Joomla for the size of the developer community and the availability of a number of critical add-on applications. The final step was a simple installation and customization of graphics.

All told, a prototype of the VAR intranet was operational in five days and a final portal was launched in 30 days. For the client, the VAR portal and its underlying design features have already produced important strategic results — namely providing the entire VAR network with a single point from which they can find important documents, share expertise and schedule webinars and other events.

In later articles, I’ll talk about the process for getting people to visit and use the portal — that’s another great story.

Specific project advantages realized by the portal are:

• Reduced Development Cost: The tools were free. This kept cost low.
• Reduced Per-Seat Fees: There were no per-seat fees. This also allowed us to justify additional hours for content development.
• Reduced Computer Hardware Cost: These tools are resource efficient, hosting was inexpensive.
• No purchase approvals: Since we didn’t need to buy anything, it made it easier to get started.

In the end, it is our opinion that open source tools make sense for projects that are budget restrained and those that are not. When budgets are tight, open source tools reduce development costs and usually eliminate recurring costs as well as reduce product development cycles.

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