Hi Shi Jinghai, We considered other open-source e-commerce solutions such as osCommerce http://www.oscommerce.com/, but it is licensed under GPL. We cannot use GPL/LGPL code in our project. So the advantage of OfBiz is its Apache license. We are unaware of other open source e-commerce solutions that are not licensed under GPL/LGPL.
Best Regards, Vadim ------------------------------- Vadim Eisenberg IT for Healthcare & Life Sciences IBM Research - Haifa Shi Jinghai <[email protected]> wrote on 05/09/2010 01:26:44 AM: > From: > > Shi Jinghai <[email protected]> > > To: > > [email protected] > > Date: > > 05/09/2010 01:27 AM > > Subject: > > Re: OfBiz e-commerce customization > > It seems your strategy is very clear: you need a set of UI for free and > will sell your middle ware in the future. If so, I guess OFBiz will not > be your choice. > > > 在 2010-09-04六的 11:02 +0300，Vadim Eisenberg写道： > > Hi David, > > > > Thank you for your answer and explanations. I failed with the formatting > > for the second time, so I will try to write in plain text from now on. > > > > You wrote: "when asking questions here please keep in mind that responses > > you get are volunteer responses and the only qualification you can be sure > > of for those responding > > is that they are capable of subscribing to the mailing list. If many > > people respond with something > > consistent then it is a safer bet that you can rely on the information, > > but usually not otherwise." > > > > I guess this is how Open Source works :) ? by volunteers contributing code > > to the product and answering questions in the mailing lists. I still would > > like to hear as much opinions as possible from the developers "in the > > trenches", so anybody is welcome to provide them. I would like to thank BJ > > again for providing his opinions. > > > > Please note that the project I participate in, is a kind of Research and > > Development project, sponsored by EU and implemented by a consortium of > > academic and industrial partners. The project is planned for four years > > (ending in January 2014). One of its goals is to create an open source > > implementation of an e-commerce solution - uStore, suited for the field of > > AAL - Ambient Assisted Living (that is a kind of "smart home" for senior > > citizens). The main concept of uStore is similar to the concept of > > AppStore of Apple ? the AAL application developers would be able to upload > > and sell their applications from the store. In addition to that, AAL > > related devices and human services would be sold. An additional important > > feature is to integrate "social commerce" ? user reviews, blogs, forums > > etc. > > > > Please note that developing uStore is Research and Development and there > > are not yet concrete AAL businesses that would immediately use it. The > > goal is to provide some reference open source implementation in four > > years. This implementation would be later supported and extended by an > > open-source community according to the business needs of AAL businesses, > > once some real AAL businesses would use it. One of the goals is to reuse > > the existing open-source OOTB solutions in any field as much as possible > > in order to save resources as much as possible. > > > > As a result of the situation, the accent here is more on e-commerce > > features of existing e-commerce solutions, especially related to the > > e-commerce frontend, than on their ERP features. We would like to use the > > simplest and the most straightforward standard business model (preferably > > OOTB) for e-commerce and invest more resources into the frontend features. > > By the frontend features I mean the website, its accessibility, including > > presentation on smart phones, search, recommendations, user reviews, blogs > > and forums etc. As I understand the strength of OfBiz is actually its rich > > ERP data model, however here we probably do not need the advanced ERP > > features of OfBiz. > > > > I have read your HEMP Light document ? it was interesting and provided > > some insights for me. Currently we are in process of finalizing the use > > cases/requirements of the uStore and evaluating existing e-commerce > > solutions, with OfBiz being one of the main candidates. > > > > Thanks & Regards, > > Vadim > > > > ------------------------------- > > Vadim Eisenberg > > IT for Healthcare & Life Sciences > > IBM Research - Haifa > > > > > > David E Jones <[email protected]> wrote on 03/09/2010 10:00:38 PM: > > > > > From: > > > > > > David E Jones <[email protected]> > > > > > > To: > > > > > > [email protected] > > > > > > Date: > > > > > > 03/09/2010 10:01 PM > > > > > > Subject: > > > > > > Re: OfBiz e-commerce customization > > > > > > > > > Vadim, > > > > > > About your formatting: this mailing list filters out all HTML > > > because HTML email messages tend to be VERY large and the Apache > > > Software Foundation in general has many thousands of messages going > > > through mailing lists every day. > > > > > > Back to your original question: when asking questions here please > > > keep in mind that responses you get are volunteer responses and the > > > only qualification you can be sure of for those responding is that > > > they are capable of subscribing to the mailing list. If many people > > > respond with something consistent then it is a safer bet that you > > > can rely on the information, but usually not otherwise. With a > > > question as long and involved as yours chances are you'll only get a > > > small number of responses, and chances are your experience will be > > > VERY different from those few who do respond. > > > > > > OFBiz is a large project. A good developer can learn to work > > > effectively with the framework with a couple of weeks of training > > > and a couple of months of hands-on development. However, even a good > > > developer will have a hard time picking up all of the data > > > structures and business logic even after many months of study, and > > > realistically since most people don't or can't do that, it usually > > > takes years of work experience and even then they'll only have > > > knowledge of the parts of the system that have had the opportunity > > > to work with. > > > > > > Understanding the business side is much easier for someone who has a > > > good business background, and by good business background I mean > > > really good experience with how businesses actually operate and what > > > sorts of information businesses actually keep track of when > > > operating. Sometimes people coming out of university business > > > programs will have this, but most of the time they do not. Most > > > people with business degrees will have learned more about laws and > > > how to manipulate people than about the myriad of complexities of > > > managing a warehouse, handling purchasing, or tracking information > > > about products to facility the many touch points with those products > > > throughout the company, and making it easy for customers to find > > > products they want, or how to figure out where customer interest > > > intersects with stuff you want to move. > > > > > > So anyway, keep in mind that your diving into a pretty comprehensive > > > ERP system, but one that is made up of what people have seen fit to > > > contribute for free. An extremely wide variety of data structures > > > and common business processes are represented in the system, though > > > many are not complete, or at least not complete in the way your > > > client will want to use them. > > > > > > The only way to really be sure is to document ALL business > > > activities (usually easiest if organized by process and not by role > > > or by system function), and then do an overlap/gap analysis to see > > > how each business activity would be done in the system, or if there > > > is not something to do it (or it is not adequate for what your users > > > want) then detail what the system needs to do to help manage that > > > activity. Once you've done that, then you'll know what the system > > > can do for you as-is, and what needs to be done to expand and change > > > the system to do what your client needs. Short of that, everything > > > is a guess and guaranteed to be wrong (the only question is by how > > > much and in which direction(s)...). > > > > > > To help with that I recommend this material (this is what I use > > withclients): > > > > > > http://www.dejc.com/home/HEMP.html > > > > > > I'd also recommend looking at some of the generic business process > > > stories that have come from OFBiz-based projects and been refined > > > somewhat over the years (though keep in mind that these stories in > > > some places represent activities that are not managed by OOTB OFBiz, > > > ie these need an overlap/gap analysis document to make them more > > meaningful): > > > > > > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OFBREQDES/Universal > > > +Business+Process+Library+Index > > > > > > Best of luck, > > > -David > > > > > > > > > On Sep 3, 2010, at 11:32 AM, Vadim Eisenberg wrote: > > > > > > > Hello BJ and other OfBiz developers, > > > > > > > > I was not subscribed to the mailing list so I did not receive the > > answer > > > > of BJ to my previous message - > > > > http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/ofbiz-user/201009.mbox/% > > > [email protected]%3e > > > > . Because of that I cannot post a response to it. Secondly, I used a > > wrong > > > > MIME in my previous message, so all the bullets and formatting were > > > > missing. I am reposting the original message below in the right format > > > > > > (any additional comments/opinions are welcome). In addition, my > > response > > > > to BJ follows. Sorry for the mess I created. > > > > > > > > Hi BJ, > > > > > > > > Thank you for your prompt response. I think I've got the general idea. > > I > > > > still would like to ask a question about learning OfBiz: > > > > The three volumes of the data model book comprise about 1700 pages > > > > together. Should I use the book as a reference or do I have to read > > all > > > > the three volumes before starting my work on OfBiz ? Which parts of > > the > > > > book are required before I begin my work ? > > > > > > > > Thanks & Regards, > > > > Vadim > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > My original message: > > > > > > > > > > =========================================================================================================== > > > > Hello OfBiz developers, > > > > > > > > My name is Vadim Eisenberg and I work at IBM Research - Haifa, on the > > > > UniversAAL project - http://universaal.org/. It is a consortium > > European > > > > project. Its goal is to create a platform for applications, services > > and > > > > devices for Ambient Assisted Living, that is a kind of "Smart Home" > > for > > > > senior citizens. As part of the platform, we - several software > > developers > > > > - have to develop an e-commerce site - uStore > > > > http://universaal.org/index.php? > > > option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=9&Itemid=21 > > > > . This site would be a one-stop-shop for software, services and > > devices > > > > for Ambient Assisted Living. > > > > > > > > We consider using OfBiz for implementation of uStore. > > > > > > > > I would like to ask you several questions about the features we want > > to > > > > implement. I would be glad to hear any information you can tell me > > about > > > > how hard could it be for us to implement these features. Please note > > that > > > > we have no prior experience with OfBiz. > > > > > > > > Any your thoughts, intuition, experience, advice about OfBiz/business > > > > programming are welcome. > > > > > > > > In particular, the following information would help us very much : > > > > How much work should be done by us in order to implement all the > > features > > > > that follow (Person/Months, Person/Years, for skilled OfBiz > > > > developers/general software engineers). Which part would be to use > > > > existing "extension" mechanisms of OfBiz and which part would be > > actually > > > > changing the OfBiz code ? Here your intuition/experience from related > > > > projects is welcome, we do not need exact numbers, just a ballpark. > > > > How much time the general software developers have to learn about > > OfBiz > > > > and how skilled in OfBiz they should become in order to implement > > these > > > > features > > > > > > > > E-commerce website features: > > > > Using e-commerce site for selling software (such as AppStore of > > iPhone) > > > > and downloadable files in general (video, presentations of courses > > etc.). > > > > Here the issue is to manage links where the bought files could be > > > > downloaded. The idea is to prevent a situation in which buyers would > > buy a > > > > software application, receive a link to it for downloading and share > > the > > > > link afterwards with anybody they want, so anybody would be able to > > > > download the application without paying for it. > > > > Using e-commerce site for selling services (human services and others) > > > > Extending e-commerce site with general widgets, such as calendar, > > clock, > > > > map, a widget for downloading files, etc., and integrating the widgets > > > > > > with the OfBiz > > > > > > > > Integration with other websites/services: > > > > Integrating an e-commerce website with another (non-OfBiz backed) site > > - > > > > adding possibility for sellers to add products to the e-commerce site > > via > > > > the other site, to see customer feedback provided on the e-commerce > > site > > > > via the other site > > > > Integrating an e-commerce website with another (possibly non-OfBiz) > > > > e-commerce website, such as eBay/Amazon. What are the current > > > > possibilities of integration with eBay ? > > > > Integrating an e-commerce website with post/delivery services/sites > > > > > > > > Adding advanced features: > > > > Adding support for signing business contracts between service > > consumers > > > > and service providers, between providers of different services etc. > > via > > > > the e-commerce site > > > > Adding support for applying capability/requirement model, such as > > > > JSR-124, (for example for matching between customer's requirements > > and > > > > capabilities of software, devices and services). The customer or > > software > > > > agent on behalf of the customer could provide his requirements as part > > of > > > > his account information, and the e-commerce solution would match > > between > > > > the products (according to their capabilities) and the requirements of > > the > > > > customers. > > > > Has OfBiz a recommendation engine (providing recommendations to a user > > > > > > based on his activity - searches, purchases, reviews etc.) ? If no, > > how > > > > hard would it be to add it ? > > > > Can the OfBiz-based e-commerce web site be presented by browsers of > > smart > > > > phones ? How hard would it be to enable it ? > > > > Changing search/recommendations of OfBiz to be based on the > > requirements > > > > of the customer > > > > Changing search/recommendations of OfBiz to be based on the > > geolocation of > > > > the customer > > > > Adding support for customization of products/services and changes in > > the > > > > prices according to the customization during the purchase process > > > > Adding support for a composition solution of hardware, software and > > human > > > > services (bundles, kits). A seller could compose a new product by > > > > combining several existing products > > > > Adding support for manual approval of products by site administrators > > > > before submission of the products to the e-commerce site > > > > Adding support for managing versions of the software applications that > > are > > > > sold on the e-commerce website > > > > > > > > Sorry for so many questions and sorry if some of them are out of > > context. > > > > > > > > Best Regards, > > > > Vadim > > > > ------------------------------- > > > > Vadim Eisenberg > > > > IT for Healthcare & Life Sciences > > > > IBM Research - Haifa > > > > > > > > > > > >
