ps. I meant to say - OpenBravo POS was originally TinaPOS which was GPL. This explains the different license for it I think
Colin Colin Rooney wrote: > re: openbravo > While they don't like to admit it, OpenBravo was based on Compiere, > which when OB started was Compiere Public License - a derivative of the > MPL license. So I would guess this is OB's real reason for this choice > of license. > >> AFAIK Apache OFBiz is the only community-driven project in this space. > There is at least one other community driven project in this area that I > know of - Adempiere. I don't mean to advertise one project in another > but only because it is a topic of conversation here... Adempiere is > another Compiere fork but this time a GPL project. I think both OfBiz & > Adempiere share many ideals - Adempiere too is completely community > driven, with no one company holding any significant power. And while I > am quiet active in Adempiere I am no a fan of the "architecture" we > inherited from compiere and long for the truly structured but abstract > designs of OfBiz that [IMO] offers unrivalled flexibility. Whereas, > functionally, OfBiz is complex & often abstract with the ideals of > "we'll add everything we can think of and let people take away what they > don't need" - Adempiere is in many respects simpler with the idea that > "we'll add the basics and make it easy to extend". > > But two very interesting projects I think, both with good community > orientated attitudes to FOSS that is becoming rare today with the > emergence of "commercial" open source that seems to me to be no more > than a marketing strategy! > > > Colin > > David E Jones wrote: >> On Jul 12, 2009, at 4:55 PM, BJ Freeman wrote: >> >>> LOL, sorry but I started when there was no documentation at all, 2003. >>> I have learned ofbiz. That is how much I believe in it. >>> Open bravo does not provide the frame I need for Automation. >>> it is also GPL licensed. >>> From what I have seen it is not an enterprise level software. >>> To each his own. >>> :D >> Based on a quick search: it's actually MPL (Mozilla) license (GPL for >> the POS part of it), which is like GPL for modifications but like >> BSD/Apache for extensions. From your other email: I doubt they would >> Apache license it because it would make it hard to _sell_ a license >> which is a clear part of their business model, along with training and >> other services. >> >> AFAIK Apache OFBiz is the only community-driven project in this space. >> Other are typically GPL-like/commercial dual licensed, which is a model >> more like traditional commercial software in terms of revenue and >> development (ie hired developers and not many community contributions). >> That includes OpenBravo, Compiere, OpenERP, ERP5, and yes even our >> friends at opentaps. It also includes less direct competitors like >> Magento, Alfresco, SugarCRM, and many others. >> >> Now, Adempiere is one exception, though they have a funny licensing >> situation since it is GPL and no one in the community owns the copyright >> to the original GPL code base that came from Compiere... tricky at best. >> >>> snowch sent the following on 7/12/2009 2:45 PM: >>>> The file DemoOrganizationData.xml looks as though it will provide the >>>> answers >>>> I am looking for. Many thanks! However the real problem is that >>>> learning >>>> ofbiz end user functionality is time consuming due to the lack of >>>> documentation. >>>> >>>> I found the same problem a few years back when learning technical >>>> development of ofbiz. In the end I gave up until Jonathon Wong's >>>> book was >>>> recently released. That book saved me hundreds of hours of trial and >>>> error >>>> development. I can now easily develop standalone ofbiz applications. >>>> However, I am now struggling with utilizing the existing ofbiz >>>> functionality. >> Do you mean you looked through the docs.ofbiz.org documentation and >> didn't find what you were looking for? There are pretty clear links from >> the OFBiz home page to these community-maintained docs, and there is a >> LOT there for both technical and end-user documentation. >> >> On the other hand, IF you write something along the lines of "I'm >> looking for information about X and I found documents A, B, and C which >> seem related but they don't address it" THEN you will almost certainly >> get specific feedback and responses. >> >> This is a community driven project, so if you'd looking for interaction >> similar to what you'd find with a commercial entity you'll have a hard >> time. If you're working with the community in the way communities work >> you'll have a good experience. For more details about this please see my >> recent blog post: >> >> http://osofbiz.blogspot.com/2009/06/open-source-community-collaboration.html >> >> >>>> I think I will probably (reluctantly) end up moving to openbravo as my >>>> development framework for ERP applications based on the availability of >>>> their functional and developer training material (see >>>> http://www.openbravo.com/services/training/). >> On the other hand, if you'd prefer to get commercial services, you're in >> luck! Whether you're looking for training courses, mentoring, or even >> paid documentation there are options, just like with OpenBravo. The nice >> thing about OFBiz is that there is no central vendor which means there >> is a wider variety of options and none of them have to compete with the >> central vendor. For a pretty good list (but not all OFBiz service >> providers, many do not market through the project) see: >> >> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Apache+OFBiz+Service+Providers >> >> -David >> >> >>>> BJ Freeman wrote: >>>>> yes, I got error messages the first time, >>>>> from the error messages I learned what needed to be done >>>>> hard way to learn. >>>>> I also looked at the DemoOrganization.xml for Ideas. >>>>> >>>>> snowch sent the following on 7/12/2009 2:11 PM: >>>>>> I've realised that I need to use relationships from other posts, >>>>>> and from >>>>>> the >>>>>> ManagerReferenceParty.pdf. >>>>>> >>>>>> What is not clear is how? The UI doesn't have much meaning without >>>>>> some >>>>>> examples: >>>>>> >>>>>> New Relationship: >>>>>> >>>>>> of the Party with ID ___ >>>>>> in the role of ___ >>>>>> is a ___ >>>>>> of the current party ___ >>>>>> in the role of ___ >>>>>> And Party Relationship Security ___ >>>>>>> From Calendar ___ >>>>>> Thru Calendar ___ >>>>>> Comments ___ >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> BJ Freeman wrote: >>>>>>> it is done through relationships >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> snowch sent the following on 7/12/2009 11:52 AM: >>>>>>>> One area I'm struggling with is trying to create a party group and >>>>>>>> adding >>>>>>>> parties to the group. Is there any documentation on this specific >>>>>>>> area? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Many thanks... >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> BJ Freeman wrote: >>>>>>>>> End user Docs >>>>>>>>> There was an effort for a time to generate a help system of enduser >>>>>>>>> docs, but that has sort of fallen off. >>>>>>>>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/End+User+Documentation >>>>>>>>> there are fragements though out the doc site >>>>>>>>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/OFBiz+Applications+User+Manual >>>>>>>>> that has links in it to others >>>>>>>>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Accounting+Screens+Reference >>>>>>>>> you just have to go through them to pull them all together. >>>>>>>>> Hopefully some will put on energy into the first link to tie all >>>>>>>>> these >>>>>>>>> together. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> snowch sent the following on 7/12/2009 7:11 AM: >>>>>>>>>> By functional, I mean training that is aimed at the non-technical >>>>>>>>>> user. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> I am ok with developing ofbiz applications from scratch, but now I >>>>>>>>>> need >>>>>>>>>> to >>>>>>>>>> know how to use more of the ofbiz functionality out-of-the-box. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Reading through the Len Silverston data model books are useful, >>>>>>>>>> but >>>>>>>>>> only >>>>>>>>>> really describe the data model. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Many thanks, >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Chris >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> BJ Freeman wrote: >>>>>>>>>>> not sure your definition for functional. >>>>>>>>>>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBADMIN/OFBiz+Documentation+Index >>>>>>>>>>> on top of that David use to run seminars once a year. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> snowch sent the following on 7/10/2009 2:52 PM: >>>>>>>>>>>> Is there any functional training available for ofbiz? >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> Many thanks, >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> Chris >>>>>>>>>>> -- >>>>>>>>>>> BJ Freeman >>>>>>>>>>> http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation >>>>>>>>>>> http://bjfreeman.elance.com >>>>>>>>>>> http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Systems Integrator. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> -- >>>>>>>>> BJ Freeman >>>>>>>>> http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation >>>>>>>>> http://bjfreeman.elance.com >>>>>>>>> http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Systems Integrator. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> BJ Freeman >>>>>>> http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation >>>>>>> http://bjfreeman.elance.com >>>>>>> http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Systems Integrator. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> BJ Freeman >>>>> http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation >>>>> http://bjfreeman.elance.com >>>>> http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro >>>>> >>>>> Systems Integrator. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>> -- >>> BJ Freeman >>> http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation >>> http://bjfreeman.elance.com >>> http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro >>> >>> Systems Integrator. >>> >>
