Open BSS - Open Source Unix at Open Source Unix

Billing is one important area of all small and big businesses. Billing software market is crowded that choice of one becomes so difficult for a start up business owner. The question is will billing software survives the flood of software suits or packages offered by small and big software developing companies.

It should. The problem open software community today faces is the lack of skills or interest to learn the basics of programming and working of programs.

People also seek comfort zones all the time. We all live in an age of instant gratification and we are hardly programmed to wait or try hard to get something. This is the general trend and they will go for easily available packaged solutions, instead of trying to learn what it is about the working behind the things they see.

Needless to say a billing cum accounting system will, to a great extent take the load of learning accounting from your shoulders. With Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) the modern mantra, it is quite understandable if a few companies have taken the initiative to make major inroads into the field of free open source billing software.

It is necessary for the user to have a basic coding and programming knowledge to tweak the pieces of software to a workable suite. Then again the attempts in that direction should be recognized.

When introducing an open-source billing software, it is sure to be met with much skepticism and prejudices. No open source software is an exception. The whole hearted attempts from skilful people keep the trend alive. This project has been the hot favorite at SourceForge.net for a few months now.

A recent addition to free software, specifically billing software is JBilling, located at http://www.jbilling.com. The open source software works with all major operating systems and supports My SQL, Postgre SQL and Hypersonic. It runs on JBOSS. It is thus a 100% free open source billing system that supports recurring billing, automatic payment processing using credit cards etc. It also handles web-based interface directly with end customers.

There are also different advantages of this specific billing software. Most of the processes are automated. Though it is not a new thing in open source world, business persons appreciate automatic invoicing, billing, payment processing, etc. What more? JBilling v 1.0.4 also accepts online payment via credit card.

The software thus easily becomes an alternative to proprietary billing systems.

http://www.jbilling.com

Sam Jose
http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/billing-software-free-and-open-this-time-87000.html

In November of this year Sun Microsystems moved to “open source” status for Java, after a decade of maintaining proprietary status for the portable programming language. Specifically, Sun has placed Java into the public domain by putting it under GPL - an acronym for General Public License. What this means is that software programmers will have vastly increased freedom to develop programs based on Java and to develop modifications for the language itself.

It also puts Sun into the mainstream with other major platform developers such as Linux. While the company had put its Solaris operating system into open source status some time ago, Java is a highly distributed consumer platform and providing open source access to it gives the company a real boost in its standing among its peers. Perhaps more important, it will stimulate further development of consumer oriented Java-based programs. It is estimated that eight out of every ten cell phones have a Java application running on them.

A GPL use requires that any product developed under such licensure be returned to the “open source community” and remain, in effect accessible to all. Sun’s variation on this principle has an exception for applications built on the Java “Virtual Machine,” a platform that the company made available to software developers some time ago.

What this exception does is allow continued development of proprietary software written for Java, which keeps the language viable as a platform for revenue producing products. Prior to the switch to GPL status, Java program developers had to pay a licensing fee to Sun.

IBM has been after Sun to take Java to open source status for years. Their Works Projects has been a center for the development of open source products, primarily based on Linux. From their perspective, Sun’s decision to grant GPL status for Java is viewed as an opportunity to unite with Linux and provide a stronger platform to challenge Microsoft. The politics of software can be enormously complicated, especially when there’s an elephant like Microsoft in the house. But what Sun has accomplished with this move is provide an opportunity for programmers to zero in on Java products as potentially large revenue sources.

Unlike Linux, which was spun off of UNIX to provide an alternative to Windows, Java stands in a class of its own. While Linux has survived in the marketplace, it has never mounted a major challenge to Windows. Java’s unique qualities and the intellectual property that protects those qualities will now be an open book for programmers developing new applications.

It will also provide the opportunity to bundle Java products with Linux based software. Sun’s internal interest in this move is to stimulate more developers to use the language, in order to revive its own internal software business. Since taking a huge hit in their high-end server market, Sun has been struggling to find a new path and has increasingly looked to software as an opportunity.

Sun’s EVP for software summed up the value of the move for the company and its product. “People have been hesitant to distribute Java worldwide with Linux (distributions) because of (concerns over) license alignment,” Green said. “This is the last gate to ensure that Java will be distributed worldwide.”

Madison Lockwood
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/java-goes-open-source-86066.html

Major corporate houses choose open source partly due to the economic gains and mainly due to the control the open source system gives to their hands.

The quest for control is a serious problem in open source arena. The problem sometimes seems trivial, but is really a loss of manpower by the professionals developing programs in open source environment. The problem is seeking too much of control leads developers develop their own solutions for specific issues.

Reinventing the wheel is quite a common problem in open source arena. Instead of using an already popular script, developers tend to write there own scripts for specific tasks. There may be hundreds of scripts with similar functions. There are however instances when a developer has to come up with something new when the existing system doesn’t give the expected results. Developing a code from scratch will be faster than modifying existing program.

Proprietary software, in this sense is quite advantageous here. The developers working with proprietary software hardly ever goes to coming up with their own script as a solution for immediate problems at hand. Then again, proprietary software developers too invent their own wheels, but the goal is to avoid nasty situations like legal problems.

The nature of shared development of software development appeals to the human nature to have control over their destiny. This is true even when they can get customized ’solutions’ by proprietary software vendors. The future is in open source, but it is premature to make predictions as to when Linux or an open source OS cross runs on 50% of the computers of the world.

Incidentally Microsoft Corporation’s Shared Source Program is an effort by the corporate giant to somehow win the trust of open source community. Though Microsoft allows a peek into the source code, redistribution rights are neither granted nor expected. Only an illusion of free handling of source code, shared source program lacks the democratic nature of all open source initiatives.

Back to open source initiatives - open source initiatives find it quite difficult to get professionally talented developers to the fold, especially in the beginning stages. This is true for almost all open source initiative. The situation reverses when there are enough people in the fold and the project takes momentum at SourceForge.net.

There is one last thought for major corporations that have become so stepping on open source shoulders – spare some of your resources to enrich free software and open source software community.

Sam Jose
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/open-source-initiatives-need-more-concerted-efforts-92223.html

Do you think you ‘own’ copyrighted software you ‘purchase’? Think beneath the skin. Do you really own the software for which you shelled out a significant sum? The answer is a solid NO. No, you are not the owner of the proprietary software that you think you purchase. Instead, you purchase only license to use the program for your purposes. When you pay for a piece of software, what you actually do is paying a license fee plus support costs.

Most times we don’t think we need to read the license agreement that comes with proprietary software. As you read, you will understand that you are only allowed to use the software as it is. Sure you are promised some support, but how many of end users actually use such an option?

If you owned the piece of software that you purchased, you would be free to make any modifications to the software. You will be able to add new features or remove unwanted features. Think if it is possible with proprietary software solutions.

With open source software, a developer is free to modify any software he purchased under open source agree and resell it for a profit. It is however imperative for the developer to release the software under open source license. He or she may make any number of modifications and keep the source code of the developed version to themselves, provided they use it for their own purposes and not distribute to others.

Thus you will find open source software is not just about reduced costs. It also gives you better control over your business activities. The most shining example of enterprise open source software is Google™. The company that presently diversified into many different business areas from its original search engine use open source software in their servers located throughout the world.

According to Google™ it is taking your destiny to your own hands. There is no need to wait for the software developer company come up with changes or modifications. In house developers make the necessary modification in a matter of days or even hours. It would take many weeks for the developer company to come up with a solution for immediate problems.

Are you ready to use open source software for your enterprise? Are you willing to take advantage of lower costs, true rights of ownership and upgrading a solution according to your specific requirements? It is time to think deeply about the subject.

http://www.jbilling.com

Sam Jose
http://www.articlesbase.com/programming-articles/real-ownership-of-software-86994.html

As we started the project of the electronic auction PoloMercantil.com, we knew that the proprietary software costs would be too high for our financial resources. Our only option then was to make use of Open Source Code softwares.

However, within the Open Source Code there are lots of softwares to choose from, and it´s up to the system analyst/programmer to pick the ones that best suit the project goals.

In our case, we picked Linux as our operating system. However we faced a big question: Which Linux distribution ? There are dozens of linux distributions, each one with specific advantages, sometimes with or without paid services.

We chose linux Slackware because we thought that it would suit better our needs, in terms of stability and reliability. Slackware is a conservative distribution, meaning that it only offers in its distribution package kernel versions and third party libraries, once it´s been proved to be stable and reliable. As a result, Slackware is one the most stable Linux operating system on the market. If the user wishes the most recent Linux kernel and libraries, we recommend to look for a different distribution.

Another reason for us picking Slackware, was because of its text interface, which at the beginning may become a bit difficult, in the long run however it offers a better understanding of the Linux environment. This way most of Slackware configurations are done thru text scripts.

Once it was set the operating system, we picked Apache as our web server. Apache is one of the most popular web server in the internet. For server programming language, we chose PHP. Also, a very popular programming language. Our experience with Apache/PHP proves that this setup is very reliable, working extremely well in our production environment. For workstation programming language, we chose javascript, which besides of having a simple syntax, it offers lots of resources.

Apache web server is really a complete web server. Also, it can become very complex with many configuration setups.

For our database, we picked Postgresql. This database has been made available to the public for more than 15 years, and besides of being well debugged, it offers so many resources that it has become one of the best database options from Open Source Code softwares. Extremely reliable, Postgresql has reported cases where there have been databases in production with over 4 terabytes. Besides all of that, Postresql is not the most popular Open Source Code database. A matter of marketing ? Probably.

As for the programming language PHP, we had to use an object oriented application structure. There are many PHP application structures being offered with Open Source Code license. Object oriented application is very important, because it makes programming very easy and scalable up to the point where the system may grow without many problems. Also, it helps to keep PHP code separated from HTML, with the help of some specific libraries, such as Smarty. We make use of Smarty library and we believe that it is a very important resource, which can even make web pages faster thru the use of its cache functions.

Also a very important set of libraries worth mentioning for PHP systems, is the PEAR libraries. In PEAR web site, among the many libraries being offered, there are the database interface DB and the MAIL_QUEUE, which sends emails thru the use of database.

As we came to the end of the project PoloMercantil, we had to use some sort of real time database replication. For that we chose the DRBD and Heartbeat libraries. The use of database replication is very important and should not be postponed. Just after 3 months our system got into production, our server hard disk became bad. Thru the use of DRBD/Heartbeat we were able to put the system back into production within seconds, without loosing any data. DRBD/Heartbeat replication is done thru the use of a lan network between the server and slave nodes.

Our project also makes use of ImageMagick (enlarge and reduce images), Iptables (firewall), Tsearch2(text search in portgresql) and Mon (linux monitoring tasks).

Also a very important library worth mentioning is the pseudo APC compiler for PHP. Speed is always a critical factor for internet sites.

PoloMercantil is already in production and based upon our experience we can say that the Open Source Code softwares we picked, proved to be extremely reliable and stable. Open Source Code softwares can certainly be an excellent option for developing web sites.

Roberto Sedycias

IT Consultant for PoloMercantil

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author´s name and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in the article & biography must be kept.

Roberto Sedycias
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/open-source-code-behind-polomercantil-85594.html

The open source symposium was held at Taj Residency, Bangalore on 17th and 18th October, 2006. The event was conducted by Red Hat, sponsored by AMD and the research data was based on IDC’s research and surveys. The speakers talked about the trends in the industry, the business and revenue model of Red Hat, how open source can be applied to architecture, software, middleware and hardware.

Right now the open source developer participation from APAC region and India in specific is miniscule. They spread some awareness about Red Hat open source platform and threw some light on how to participate in the open source community and how we all can benefit from this model.

According to IDC’s recent research, enterprise adoption of open source has grown manifold; companies worldwide are increasing investment in open source technologies. Today enterprises have started benefiting from the quality, license cost savings and flexibility of open source. Beyond profit margin of open source adoption, there was also discussion about backing open standards, contributions for open source community.

Some of the interesting topics are given in detail below:

The Power of Choice: Open Source Architecture

The long term vision of Open Source Architecture is built on open standards and interoperability. The Open Source architecture delivers a suite of standards based technologies and services, allowing open source and traditional software applications to be co-existed and can be deployed on reliable, secure, scalable and highly performing platforms. To the enterprise, it is the power to assemble and dissemble the architecture, software, middleware, hardware and applications that fulfill the goals of the business.

Open Source Software (OSS):

With OSS, the code is protected by a special license GNU General Public License (GPL) that ensures everyone has access to code. That means no one company can fully own it. You can see the code, change it and learn from it. Bugs are more quickly found and fixed. And when customers don’t like how one vendor is serving them, they can choose another without overhauling their infrastructure. No more technology lock-in. No more monopolies.

The marriage between SOA (Service oriented architecture or software as a service) and OSS though not revolutionary because of the weight of the IT legacy, is surely evolving gradually. The CEO’s and CIO’s are not happy with the vendor lock-in and the tight integration of their architecture and the prize they pay. This problem is very well addressed by SOA and OSS.
The second day was Red Hat Developer Day; it was aimed to bring together Linux developers and users to help grow open source technologies. Red Hat provides a platform for improving development, techniques, tools and standards through the sharing of technical knowledge and expertise. These efforts are to encourage open source development in India. Red Hat is initiating the Red Hat Developer Program, a community development program in India through Red Hat 108. Red Hat 108 is a community of and for open source developers.
The other topics covered are:-
Virtualization:
Virtualization means the operating system is isolated from the hardware it’s running on. Several operating systems can run on one machine, and different workloads can be easily combined and moved. With virtualization, you can:
Move workloads from server to server.
Change hardware without retesting software
Allows isolation of failures and control access to data.
Manipulate to maximize processing power and capacity
Have a safe, secure space for testing.
Virtualization technology can help lower costs by optimizing and increasing utilization of computing systems. They declined to comment about the licensing of the operating system. They can charge per operating system (if 3 operating system instances are run on one machine, they can charge for 3 licenses) or per hardware (this is independent of how many operating system you have installed in a pc).

Red Hat’s acquisition of JBoss:

This move is strategically poised to improve the presence of Red Hat in the middleware. They wanted to deliver a full server application stack. JBoss provides a very rich set of applications, J2EE server, portal, development IDE, transaction management etc. This gives Red Hat a middleware stack that beats their competition by thousands of dollars. JBoss makes more sense here and it will become their de facto application server. They will be able to do some really tight integration and give their customers an out-of-the-box J2EE solution that should perform really well. It is still not known whether JBoss will be bundled with Red Hat as of now.

SystemTap

SystemTap, a Red Hat utility allows developers and administrators to write scripts for deep examinations of Dynamic Linux Kernel activities. Data may be filtered, extracted, and summarized quickly to enable diagnoses of complex problems.

JBoss Operations Network (JBoss ON)
JBoss ON is a console based advanced management platform for inventorying, administering, monitoring, and updating JEMS applications. Jboss ON is an agent-based platform that is deployed locally.

The most important JBoss ON Modules are:

Inventory, allows you to catalog IT assets spanning platforms (Linux, HP/UX, Solaris, Windows, AIX), servers (Apache Web Server, Apache Tomcat, JBoss AS), and services (EJB, Message Driven Beans, data sources). Assets can be added manually or auto-discovered providing enhanced visibility over your critical business applications including their versions and dependencies.

Administration provides a single location for performing key control functions such as start, stop, and re-start across the entire JEMS platform. Administration functions can be applied to a single application or across an enterprise cluster. Operations can also be scheduled for later dates, on-demand or on a recurring basis. This module also allows you to roll-back to previous versions if necessary.

Monitoring provides extensive monitoring capabilities for the JEMS platform along with supporting components such as operating systems (Windows, Linux, and UNIX), Apache Tomcat, Apache Web Server and any JEMS-based applications. The Monitoring Module continuously builds and updates a model of behavior of every measurement being collected. This allows you to define alerts relevant to the actual behavior of your infrastructure. Baselines are also utilized to identify out of band problems. This allows you to quickly identify resources within your infrastructure that require attention as well as get a historical view of what was happening at the time of the fault.

JBoss portal:

JBoss Portal has a business friendly open source license that makes it free to download, use, embed, and distribute. JBoss Portal provides a framework for centralized and secure access to applications and information, which fosters collaboration, streamlines business processes, and reduces costs. Since JBoss Portal is based on open standards, it can incorporate components into the Portal as standardized and reusable Portlets.

The symposium also included topics about Red Hat Road Map, Lowering TCO and Increasing ROI with JEMS (JBoss Enterprise Management Suite), Security and ID Management, Red Hat Cluster Suite and Red Hat Global File System.

Whitneyjoan
http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/the-power-and-roi-of-open-source-70739.html

Open Source Software and its Relation to osCommerce

E-commerce sites such as osCommerce function through the use and continued success of open source software – in fact, open source software is what makes these sites free. So what exactly is open source software? The purpose of article is to help you better understand what open source software is.

Basically, open source is based on the idea that when people have access to a software’s source code they can change, improve and evolve a piece of software at astonishing speeds – a characteristic that ends up produces really great software that meets the needs of its users.

Open source software is not just free code for website and software. Open source software is “governed” by the Open Source Initiative. According to the website for the Open Source Initiative it must meet several criteria to actually qualify as open source:

First of all open source software must not restrict anyone from selling (or giving away) the software. In other words, it cannot require a royalty or fee. For a product to be open source, it must also provide the source code so that the users can easily evolve the software to fit their needs and any software created with free software must be free as well. Furthermore, open source software distribution cannot discriminate against people or fields.

So, how did this concept begin? Most experts on open source software will agree that the concept of open source software began with the creation of the internet which was created and improved upon by it’s users who continually changed the code to make it work for them.

Then, when computers were first used, programs were often sent as a printed version that had to be entered into the computer line by line. Programmers not only entered the programs onto the computers, they also were able to “play” with the programs and make changes as well as share there ideas with others.

Once computer became more mainstream and people other than programmers began using programs, the need (and desire) for the source code declined. This is when software companies began realizing the economical benefits of keeping their source code for software private. This also began the influx of new and incompatible operating systems which further declined the ability for programmers to share and collaborate with one another. While there are benefits to creating and selling software in this manner, some programmers realized the limits this posed on the usability of the software.

Without keeping the source code open, the users were bound to the limits of the software and were not able to alter it to fit their individual needs. This is what began the development of the GNU Public License operating system for open source software. The premise behind renewing the concept of open source software is that software development would be faster and more efficient in giving people the programs they need and want to use.

Today, open source software is becoming more and more mainstream and is used quite frequently on the internet for websites and browsers.

How does it all relate to osCommerce?

Obvious by its name, osCommerce is based on the concept of open source software. This means that osCommerce is free to use and the community members can feed off of one another to continually develop the code that they use. The store owners don’t simply purchase a software program (such as a shopping cart code) that they need to implement as is. They can design, develop and evolve their store presence to meet their changing needs. The beauty of open source code in a situation such as this is that the members of the community can help one another develop new code on an ongoing basis.

Myles OReilly
http://www.articlesbase.com/ecommerce-articles/open-source-software-and-oscommerce-130944.html

Major corporate houses choose open source partly due to the economic gains and mainly due to the control the open source system gives to their hands.

The quest for control is a serious problem in open source arena. The problem sometimes seems trivial, but is really a loss of manpower by the professionals developing programs in open source environment. The problem is seeking too much of control leads developers develop their own solutions for specific issues.

Reinventing the wheel is quite a common problem in open source arena. Instead of using an already popular script, developers tend to write there own scripts for specific tasks. There may be hundreds of scripts with similar functions. There are however instances when a developer has to come up with something new when the existing system doesn’t give the expected results. Developing a code from scratch will be faster than modifying existing program.

Proprietary software, in this sense is quite advantageous here. The developers working with proprietary software hardly ever goes to coming up with their own script as a solution for immediate problems at hand. Then again, proprietary software developers too invent their own wheels, but the goal is to avoid nasty situations like legal problems.

The nature of shared development of software development appeals to the human nature to have control over their destiny. This is true even when they can get customized ’solutions’ by proprietary software vendors. The future is in open source, but it is premature to make predictions as to when Linux or an open source OS cross runs on 50% of the computers of the world.

Incidentally Microsoft Corporation’s Shared Source Program is an effort by the corporate giant to somehow win the trust of open source community. Though Microsoft allows a peek into the source code, redistribution rights are neither granted nor expected. Only an illusion of free handling of source code, shared source program lacks the democratic nature of all open source initiatives.

Back to open source initiatives - open source initiatives find it quite difficult to get professionally talented developers to the fold, especially in the beginning stages. This is true for almost all open source initiative. The situation reverses when there are enough people in the fold and the project takes momentum at SourceForge.net.

There is one last thought for major corporations that have become so stepping on open source shoulders – spare some of your resources to enrich free software and open source software community.

Sam Jose
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/open-source-initiatives-need-more-concerted-efforts-92223.html

Open source billing systems are finding new way out through the small business firms everywhere.

This new billing software satisfies many businessmen. People who come up with new businesses are possible to make mistakes that will cost them a fine amount. Open Source billing system enables in proper accounting and reports you accordingly. A helping hand for the clients to come up from meddles of business.

Open source billing software helps anyone to make out a clear business plan too. All these services designs a layout for the new business programming services. Ticketing, account administration, rating, reporting, multi currencies support management, balance tracking, etc are performed. Freelance developers, small business firms, contract employers and other executives are made accessible to this facility. Open source billing system has made the system easily accessible and lessens the time for financial dealings.

Open source billing services with its efficient management in dealing with the business matters makes smooth running of the system. A rapid progress in the company’s structural and functional matters will result by this. Both businesspersons and employees can access open source billing system without depending on any client software. Installation assistance, support contracts, customs developments are a part of it. Open source billing system works on Linux, Windows, MySQL and more.

jbilling is one of the free open source billing systems that assist in automated payment system, processing of credit cards etc. jbilling targets on web based billing facilities that runs on different data bases- Java, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Hypersonic and Oracle. Hence these Open source billing system are adding a lot more in business world it makes the clients to come forth without any hesitation.

http://www.jbilling.com

Sam Jose
http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/open-source-billing-system-86989.html

Open Source Software and its Relation to osCommerce

E-commerce sites such as osCommerce function through the use and continued success of open source software – in fact, open source software is what makes these sites free. So what exactly is open source software? The purpose of article is to help you better understand what open source software is.

Basically, open source is based on the idea that when people have access to a software’s source code they can change, improve and evolve a piece of software at astonishing speeds – a characteristic that ends up produces really great software that meets the needs of its users.

Open source software is not just free code for website and software. Open source software is “governed” by the Open Source Initiative. According to the website for the Open Source Initiative it must meet several criteria to actually qualify as open source:

First of all open source software must not restrict anyone from selling (or giving away) the software. In other words, it cannot require a royalty or fee. For a product to be open source, it must also provide the source code so that the users can easily evolve the software to fit their needs and any software created with free software must be free as well. Furthermore, open source software distribution cannot discriminate against people or fields.

So, how did this concept begin? Most experts on open source software will agree that the concept of open source software began with the creation of the internet which was created and improved upon by it’s users who continually changed the code to make it work for them.

Then, when computers were first used, programs were often sent as a printed version that had to be entered into the computer line by line. Programmers not only entered the programs onto the computers, they also were able to “play” with the programs and make changes as well as share there ideas with others.

Once computer became more mainstream and people other than programmers began using programs, the need (and desire) for the source code declined. This is when software companies began realizing the economical benefits of keeping their source code for software private. This also began the influx of new and incompatible operating systems which further declined the ability for programmers to share and collaborate with one another. While there are benefits to creating and selling software in this manner, some programmers realized the limits this posed on the usability of the software.

Without keeping the source code open, the users were bound to the limits of the software and were not able to alter it to fit their individual needs. This is what began the development of the GNU Public License operating system for open source software. The premise behind renewing the concept of open source software is that software development would be faster and more efficient in giving people the programs they need and want to use.

Today, open source software is becoming more and more mainstream and is used quite frequently on the internet for websites and browsers.

How does it all relate to osCommerce?

Obvious by its name, osCommerce is based on the concept of open source software. This means that osCommerce is free to use and the community members can feed off of one another to continually develop the code that they use. The store owners don’t simply purchase a software program (such as a shopping cart code) that they need to implement as is. They can design, develop and evolve their store presence to meet their changing needs. The beauty of open source code in a situation such as this is that the members of the community can help one another develop new code on an ongoing basis.

Myles OReilly
http://www.articlesbase.com/ecommerce-articles/open-source-software-and-oscommerce-130944.html