Packaging Openbravo 3.0 as a distribution

by Paolo Juvara 

Openbravo 3.0 is going to be a landmark release for the Openbravo ecosystem for many reasons, ranging from improved functionality to a completely revised platform.

As the first release candidate milestone of Openbravo 3.0 approaches (the target release is July 2010), I would like to take the time to explore one specific area of innovation: the packaging and delivery of the product.

Unlike previous releases, where Openbravo was offered as a monolithic product on top of which users could install extensions, Openbravo 3.0 is going to be delivered as "distribution" of modules. By distribution, I mean a collection of modules - one of which is Core - selected and integrated to achieve the desired functional footprint of the release.

This approach presents several advantages, including a smoother upgrade for 2.50 users and the ability to reuse 2.50 modules in 3.0. The following presentation illustrates the concept.

Evolution to 3.0

View more presentations from pjuvara.

Leveraging the modular architecture of 2.50, we have been providing extension modules on top of Core. Some of those extensions are technology oriented, like the Seam Integration or the new User Interface Selector, while others, like Advanced Payables and Receivables, are functional in nature. In both cases, these are pre-3.0 features that can be deployed as modules on top of 2.50.

We can continue to release such modular components until we have all the building blocks we need for 3.0.

This is an effective way to add new capabilities but for 3.0 we also need to remove some unwanted features from Core, in some cases because it is obsolete functionality and in other cases because it is more appropriate as a module rather than a core feature.

Removing functionality is tricky: if we eliminate the code, in fact, we take the risk of breaking a dependency for an existing module therefore negating the objective of ensuring a smooth upgrade and the durability of modules. To avoid this problem, we will improve the License Manager capabilities of Core: currently the License Manager is the technology that allows us to distinguish between a Community Edition and a Professional Edition; we intend to enhance its capabilities to allow us to securely hide unwanted features and ensuring that they cannot be accidentally re-enabled. While still physically present, the unwanted features will be for all intents and purposes de-activated.

Leveraging this technology, we can deliver Openbravo 3.0 as a "template" that combines all the desired modules, plus a configuration script that defines the default configuration of the system.

We have already followed a similar approach for QuickStart, one of the professional solutions that we developed for our partners in 2.50 and we will apply the same technique for 3.0.

Using our 3.0 distribution as starting template, it is then possible to add further configuration scripts and provide additional specializations. In this respect, this packaging approach provides a nice balance between the base product and its vertical specializations as both solutions share the same development and distribution approach.

There are some obvious benefits to this approach:

• Easy upgrade for 2.50 users to 3.0: technically, an upgrade is reduced to the installation of additional modules and a configuration template (of course, there are many non technical aspects involved with an upgrade, but avoiding technical problems already simplifies the challenge)
• Guaranteed durability of modules: all of the 2.50 modules will be able to work in 3.0 as well because none of their dependencies is altered.
• Opportunity to gather early feedback on 3.0: we do not need to have 100% of the functionality ready to start exposing it to our community. In fact, many of the 3.0 modules have already been independently available for several months and went through their own feedback and stabilization cycle.
• Reduced maintenance cost for 2.50: since 2.50 and 3.0 share a common Core, the cost of maintenance will be largely reduced.

I have been using in this post the term "distribution" to describe this approach. This is a term that I liberally borrow from the Linux world, where a distribution, like Ubuntu, Red Hat, or SUSE, etc., is a collection of software packages including the Linux Kernel, a window manager, a desktop environment and other software. This model has proven very successful for Linux and a year ago I discussed how modularity could enable the same approach for Openbravo.
With 3.0 we fully embrace the distribution approach, coming to a full circle and confirming our commitment to build the ecosystem of reference in the open source ERP space.

source: http://planet.openbravo.com/

Consona acquires Compiere – What about the Community?

Source:planet.openbravo.com
by Paolo Juvara

Last Wednesday the open source ERP community woke up with the news of the Consona acquisition of Compiere, one of the pioneers in open source ERP. The text of the announcement can be found here.

Since the announcement, many observers and commentators started a debate on whether this is a victory for open source or the sad demise of one the pioneers of the open source ERP category. Many also speculated on what might be in the store for the product, with most people interpreting the transaction primarily as a technology acquisition.
A recurring theme among commentators is that Compiere failed to embrace its community.

With such a symbolic event fresh in our mind, it is time to reflect on how Openbravo facilitates the development of its own community.

Last year I had commented on Adam Blum's post on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Open Source Products. An effective open source product must display "a credible community with a credible effort to involve the community in the development of the product, as described in Adam's seven habits:

1. Public source viewing
2. Common license
3. Public source code checkins
4. Public bugs
5. Public forums
6. Anyone can contribute
Public, complete and modifiable documentation"

How does Openbravo measures against Adam's seven habits?

Openbravo offers public source viewing at http://code.openbravo.com
1. Openbravo adopts a common license with the Openbravo Public License being a common variation of the popular Mozilla Public License
2. Openbravo offers public source code checkins available either at http://code.openbravo.com, through the openbravo-commit mailing list, or on the #openbravo IRC channel on freenode.net.
Openbravo offer a public issue tracker at http://issues.openbravo.com where any community member can view or report issues
3. Openbravo hosts and moderates public forums on the Openbravo Forge mirrored on SourceForge.
4. Openbravo accepts open contribution through a documented process either in the form of extension modules, core contributions or in many other ways.
   
5. Openbravo maintains a public, complete and modifiable documentation available in the wiki.

But it does not stop there:

Openbravo offers a public road map.
• Openbravo engages with its community on the direction of the product.
Openbravo offers full visibility of the progress of its development process.
• Openbravo engages with its community in the design of upcoming features.
Openbravo supports its community not only through forums but also through the #openbravo IRC channel on freenode.net.
• Openbravo engages with its community of developers through the openbravo-developer mailing list.
• Openbravo educates its community on its latest version with frequent public webinars.
• Openbravo hosts monthly open community meetings (see the log of the May session as an example).
• Openbravo goes beyond public source checkins and offers public visibility of the testing of those checkins and how they get integrated into the product through our continuous integration infrastructure.
Openbravo engages its community of users through a collaborative QA process supported by an open test case repository.
Openbravo offers a public collaboration space with the Openbravo Forge.
• Openbravo hosts and moderates a wiki that contains more than 3,000 articles, with 1,300 monthly edits, and servers around 35,000 unique monthly visitors.

Last but not least:

• Openbravo has formalized its commitment to its community through the Openbravo Manifesto.
• Openbravo has adopted a business model that does not divorce its Community Edition users from its Professional Edition solutions but embraces the usage of the Community Edition. There is an easy and smooth transition path for those community users that are ready to enjoy the increased benefits of the Professional Edition. Similarly there is freedom of choice for developers and service providers to distribute their development either as open source or with a commercial license.

Openbravo invests a significant amount of resources to provide the infrastructure, the leadership and the coordination around the community. This is part of our DNA and consistent with one of our core beliefs that openness is a requirement to build successful products, and that leveraging the domain expertise of a global community is the only way to build a product that fits the needs of all SMEs.

The results of these efforts are a community that is lively, growing and productive.

Looking at the public SourceForge statistics - which are public and independent -, for the period of May 2010:

• Activity ranking: 2
• Forum post: 655 (and this does not include any of the hundreds of discussions in the Openbravo Forge other than the core ones)
  
• Downloads: 23,845 (and this does not include the 2,480 downloads from the Ubuntu repository nor any of the thousands of downloads of extension modules from our own Central Repository)

If we consider other data, we can observe that:

• The Openbravo community is large and growing, with 10,426 registered members at the end of May and increasing at a pace of over 300 new members per month.
The Openbravo community is engaged giving us feedback on the product, with anywhere between 20 and 30% of the defect and new feature requests reported in any given month coming from the open community.
The Openbravo community is productive, with 361 public projects registered in the Openbravo Forge at the end of May and managed by our community.
The Openbravo community is effective, having produced as of the end of May 161 modules distributed through the Central Repository to the entire ecosystem of users.

The Openbravo community is still young and we still have a way to go before we can consider it fully mature. However, if you are looking for an open source ERP community that is welcoming, lively, engaging, productive and that does not create ideological or practical barriers between open source and commercial usage of the product, you should give Openbravo a try.

What does Consona's acquisition of Compiere mean?

Source:

http://openingerpsfuture.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-does-consonas-acquisition-of.html

Friday, 18 June 2010,Posted by Manel Sarasa

 What does Consona's acquisition of Compiere mean?

Since the announcement of Consona’s acquisition of Compiere, many people have asked me for my thoughts and comments. What does this deal mean for the open source ERP market, the ERP industry as a whole, and for the Openbravo community? I am keen to answer these questions and share my thoughts.

First, my interpretation of the nature of the acquisition. Everything I have read and heard about it reveals that the driving rationale for Consona was to acquire the technology, and not the open source element of Compiere, and so I predict this will mean the end for Compiere's community. Am I happy about that? No, not at all. Besides the disruption that this will bring to many people, I am a firm believer that at this stage the more successful open source ERP companies there are, the better. This is not good news at any level.

My second observation is about the predictability of this end game. Compiere's business model, organization and management style - specifically in product development, sales strategy and channel management – always resembled that of a traditional proprietary vendor, rather than one suited to an open source provider. Open source must never be used merely as a marketing tool - if you don't believe in open source and invest heavily in its development, then you don't create an open source culture within the project team and therefore cannot leverage its many benefits. Open source isn’t something you can just dabble in.

But I would like to sign off with some positive messages for the open source ERP industry. At Openbravo we are as excited and positive as ever. Open source has always been and will always be the very core of our business. This dedication and commitment is what helped us lead this market. Our purpose is to improve the efficiency of businesses around the world by bringing an ERP to every company. And for this reason our ambition has always been to create the leading web-based open source ERP company. We are strong believers that horizontal ERPs are a commodity and should be free; that value is in the services and industry specific solutions; and that openness and a strong community is a requirement for building better software in the 21st century. Success with open source ERP requires a collaborative, organic approach that unleashes synergies between the community and commercial use of the product, without artificial barriers. Rest assured that we will continue making it happen.

Ultimately, this acquisition means one less open source ERP player, reaffirming Openbravo’s leadership in this market and our genuine commitment to it.