On Jan 23, 2009, at 3:49 AM, Wicus wrote:
For an Open Source type development, OFBiz is the answer to third
world
Countries.
Poor currencies, with enormous exchange rates, makes Linux with
OFBiz the
ultimate solution for developing nations.
While I agree that this would be a great thing for developing
economies, and help them compete much better with more developed
economies, it's still difficult to "sell" to them.
There is a funny thing about not having (which I know from some
experience) and that is you want the things that people who "have"
enjoy. This is a generality and obviously not fair to many, but it
seems that for those who have the least financial means consider price
to be the most significant factor in their decision making, even to
the point where they equate price with quality and utility. In other
words, it's easy to see even the cheapest commercial solution as
better than the open source solutions. People hate to compromise, and
if they go for open source just because it's cheaper, they won't
really ever get into it.
The only selling point that makes sense is flexibility and
empowerment. That is true whether you're selling to a Fortune 500
company in the USA or a 50 person sweat shop in sub-Saharan Africa.
Another thing to consider is the smaller a company gets the less
they'll be able to afford, and the more they'll need a package that is
already tailored to their needs. That is true even though
customization labour is cheaper in developing nations, or in other
words, the lower developer prices don't actually help that much to
solve the problems of smaller organizations.
What they REALLY need is a number of packages that are tailored to
their specific types of organizations. OFBiz may eventually get there
with various "specialpurpose" apps, but someone has to build them, and
chances are it isn't going to be the same people (or people in the
same organizations) that will use the apps.
In the open source world we can hopefully get more people (like many
involved in OFBiz) who are working for or with end-user organizations
that have a little more funding and that can sponsor functionality
that goes back into the open source project, and eventually get to the
point where it is within reach of these organizations in developing
countries. That's the path we're on now, as I see it.
A nice path with be a Ubuntu-like path with a benefactor like Mark
Shuttleworth. That would definitely push things along much more
quickly, and also increase the chances of it being useful for this
particular purpose. Interestingly related to your next comment, Mr.
Shuttleworth has strong connections in the area you mentioned for an
ApacheCon event.
Of course, it doesn't have to be him... it could be anyone with money
that is willing to sponsor design and development efforts. If we're
lucky someone in such a position will recognize that OFBiz is the ONLY
real community-driven ERP/CRM/ecommerce/etc project out there and that
it is already heading in the right direction.
If someone like that came along I'd be happy to go work full-time for
them! ;)
In the mean time, OFBiz survives on the backs of a bunch of people who
are skilled but not wealthy, and who contribute as much as they as
part of their day jobs that keep them alive, and the rest comes from
donations of personal time and effort. I'm not aware of anyone
involved in OFBiz who has no financial needs or concerns, perhaps some
more than others, but AFAIK we're all in a similar boat of working for
a living, and choosing to do so using tools that allow us to really
deliver what our customers/clients/etc need, and that just maybe will
make a real difference in the world too and make life better for lots
of people.
Taking a stab in dark (or at least where this is still light), may I
ask
what the feasibility would be to host an ApacheCon in South Africa
(Johannesburg) ?
You'd have to bring that up with the ASF Conference Committee (ConCom)
which does ApahceCon conferences, and who were generous and inclusive
enough to involve us in the New Orleans event, and have expressed that
we are very welcome to participate in other events (wherever we can
get enough people to present, etc).
-David
