Openbravo on open source

Buidling Great Communities

2009-03-24T07:37:00.005+01:00

Tomorrow Paolo Juvara and I will bet at the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) in San Francisco, CA.

OSBC is the premier strategy event for the open source industry. It was founded in 2003 by Matt Asay, who is an Openbravo advisor. Paolo and I plan to meet several of our peers to exchange ideas and best practices.

Additionally, I will participate in a panel to discuss the nuances of community building. The panel will be moderated by Stormy Peters, Executive Director and the Gnome Foundation.

Key ideas I will voice include:

The importance for all the company to become "community" and embrace community processes and communication channels
The importance to lead and set example if you want others to follow
The importance of recognition and meritocracy
The importance to invest in tools to lower collaboration barriers

I bet you recognize some of the initiatives we are taking in Openbravo to make the above statements a reality.

I will share my learnings after the conference in a follow-on post.

Openbravo SMB Network 2.40 is available

2008-12-01T19:19:00.006+01:00

Some weeks ago, we announced the availability of Openbravo SMB Network 2.40, the professional subscription service for Openbravo ERP 2.40.

Openbravo SMB Network 2.40 is now the recommended choice for SMEs who want to deploy Openbravo ERP for production use.

Compared with the previous release, Openbravo ERP 2.40 provides:

Improvements in the user interface for better productivity, including full keyboard navigation and better visual feedback in the user interface
Better support for international deployments with better support for multi-schema accounting, withholding tax, VAT register or international bank account numbers
More out-of-the-box reports and functionalities like purchase requisitions support, goods receipt by PO number, enhanced projects & services module or historical salary category
Enhanced and more out-of-the-box reports
More capabilities built into the platform like enhanced security, audit trails and additional web services

For more details, you can read the complete release notes for Openbravo ERP 2.40.

Additionally, the Openbravo ERP SMB Network 2.40 appliance contains significant improvements compared to the previous edition, notably

Updated Administration Console
- New, cleaner look and feel
- Improved usability with better user feedback

Improved performance per GHz
- Native support for 64 bit architecture
- Latest versions of Ant, Tomcat, Apache and Oracle

Existing Openbravo Network subscribers can migrate their systems to the latest Openbravo ERP release and receive support with he same level enjoyed in the previous release without the need to pay additional fees. However, it is important to notice that the upgrade process will require a development project that clients will need to contract to their system integrator of reference on the basis of the need to update custom code developed for them. Therefore clients should only upgrade to the latest release if the new functionalities available offer an immediate return on investment.

Go Professional! Buy Openbravo Network.

Disaster recovery with Openbravo SMB Network

2008-10-08T19:55:00.005+01:00

The fact that Openbravo ERP is a mission critical application means that it is very important to have a disaster recovery plan.

Usually, and certainly more frequently than it should be, this type of plan is just an afterthought. Quite frankly, it is also very common that the recovery process is not fully tested or documented.

In those rare cases where the plan is properly laid out, System Integrators have generally required a large number of consulting hours to craft it and clients are rarely happy with the expenditure this entails.

Luckily, Openbravo SMB Network includes a nice functionality that offers this facility without the need to develop any complex process. Using the Administration Console, system back-ups can be scheduled regularly. These back-ups can be done against a remote file server for increased reliability.

In case of disaster, a simple restore process enables you to have a fully functional system up and running again in a matter of hours. Another neat benefit of the Openbravo SMB Network appliance.

Go Professional! Ensure the systems you are managing are properly protected.

I run a heavily cutomized Openbravo ERP system. Is Openbravo Network right for me?

2008-09-23T00:39:00.000+01:00

This is one of the most frequent questions I get from (prospective) customers. Fortunately for everyone, the answer is a clear "YES".

One of the strengths of Openbravo ERP is the freedom to adapt it to every company's specific needs without limitation. This involves configuring the system's metadata, and very frequently, developing new functionalities to meet those specific requirements that make every company unique. On some occasions, the customizations done on top of the "standard" version are very significant.

However, this does not mean that you cannot benefit from Openbravo Network, the professional subscription service that has been designed to keep your system up-to-date and bug-free for a predictable cost.

Firstly, the service is built around the concept of system stability. The updates are designed to intricately target only the lines that require a fix, minimizing the likelihood of collision with custom developments. Therefore, in most of the cases, updates are silently applied without any conflict.

Secondly, the service is based on a ground-breaking application of source code management tools which are now part of Openbravo ERP. This approach provides a very granular and structured way to manage code conflicts during the update process, which help consultants apply fixes even when they are for the very same files that have been customized.

Attempting to undertake manual maintenance of a production system is simply not realistic, and too risky. Very often, only a handful of customer-reported bugs get fixed and the system is not properly patched. The situation gets much worse when several systems are maintained in parallel for several clients, and inevitably the quality of the manual maintenance process starts begins to deteriorate.

Openbravo Network has been designed to ensure Openbravo systems can be properly maintained so that they are fully up to date, with the quality required for a mission critical application, and in the most cost efficient way.

Go Professional! Buy Openbravo Network.

The future of Open Source in Europe

2008-09-20T23:08:00.005+01:00

Next Wednesday 24th September, I will be in Paris to attend the Paris Capital du Libre event.

I will participate in a panel to discuss the future of Open Source in Europe.

You can find the agenda for the event here.

Openbravo Network: Commercial and Community symbiosis

2008-09-17T12:49:00.002+01:00

During the launch of Openbravo Network, many mistakenly interpreted Openbravo adopting a closed source development model. This is not our strategy because we believe there is a better way.

My previous post is a very illustrative example of how customers benefit from having an open community, and how the community benefits from having customers funding it.

All bugs fixed for Openbravo ERP are available in the development trunk and incorporated in the newest release of Openbravo ERP, which typically occur twice a year.

Openbravo Network clients benefit from having regular and timely access to bug fixes, both for bugs reported by them or reported by the community. They get the benefits from using a product which is subject to public scrutiny and at the same time enjoy production grade SLAs (Service Level Agreements).

Community benefits from the effort funded by Openbravo Network customers to fix bugs, which are readily available in the development trunk and periodically packaged whenever a new release is published (or even before, if –occasionally- a community maintenance patch is published).

If you use Openbravo ERP and want to see it improve, engage in the community.

If you use Openbravo ERP and want production grade support, subscribe to Openbravo Network.

You are helping yourself in both cases.

300 fixes

2008-09-09T16:09:00.011+01:00

During the past months, since the official launch of Openbravo Network –the subscription support service for Openbravo ERP–, our clients have received patches containing:

214 Openbravo ERP fixes
35 Linux component updates*
5 Operating Environment updates (in Oracle Database, Apache Server, Tomcat, Ant and Java)*

In total, these account for more than 300 fixes, including a few security and critical ones.

Bugs fixed include those reported by Openbravo Network clients and bugs reported by the Openbravo ERP community. Bugs reported by our clients are treated according to production grade SLAs (Service Level Agreements) to ensure fixes are available on time.

For Openbravo SMB Network clients, fixes also include patches for the operating environment, which in many amateur implementations is not well kept up to date, eventually exposing the system to security threats.

Before fixes are released, a rigorous quality assurance process certifies there are no compatibility conflicts and they are production ready.

For Openbravo SMB Network clients, patches can be easily applied from Openbravo Network’s administration console. Also, because the Openbravo SMB Network One environment is a highly standardized configuration, we can test the patches in exactly the same environment our customers have. This dramatically improves the effectiveness of our quality assurance process, optimizing it for production usage.

Overall, this service, recommended for any professional Openbravo ERP implementation, is designed to ensure the system stays updated, bug free and secure.

* Only available for Openbravo SMB Network One customers
* Note that component updates typically contain several fixes each one

Go Professional with Openbravo Network

2008-08-10T22:54:00.002+01:00

It has been a while since we introduced Openbravo Network, the subscription service for those seeking professional support to for Openbravo ERP. Today I am blogging about it because we are extending the Openbravo Network family with additional editions targeting different client needs. With this extension, there is now a solution for everyone.

All editions of the Openbravo Network family of products include access to certified updates and upgrades for Openbravo ERP, a lifecycle guarantee, bug fixing guarantee, and IP Indemnification.

Openbravo SMB Network One, which has been available since early this year, is the recommended choice for small and mid-sized businesses looking for a complete solution in a fine-tuned appliance architecture. It is easy to install, includes all the software required to run the system (including the operating system and the database), and provides a web based administration console to manage the whole maintenance process.

Openbravo Basic Network, a recent addition to the family, is the recommended choice for those with complex hardware configurations, or who require the freedom to configure the operating environment to certain specifications.

An Openbravo Network contract for those ISVs or OEMs who want to embed Openbravo ERP in their solutions is also available upon request.

Openbravo Network is a very innovative concept in the industry, because it keeps the open source nature of Openbravo ERP, but reconciles it with the advantages of professional paid support, something many clients require and appreciate. Many of them have already realized that professional open source is the best way to combine the freedom of open source with the strict demands of a mission critical production environment, as it is ultimately also the most cost effective way to do it.

If you want to learn more about the Openbravo Network family, you can check out www.openbravo.com/network

Yes, it does!

2008-02-26T01:19:00.006+01:00

After an interesting experience with the Wikipedia, Openbravo is finally included in the Internet's encyclopedia for good. We have learned about obscure terms (at least for the uninitiated) such as "unsalt", "WP:COI", "WP:NN" "WP:AFDP".

It is clear that these complex rules have generated an extraordinarily amazing pool of high-quality content. Not an easy task to be achieved by a group of volunteers.

However, after this experience, I would like to suggest Wikipedia to include some beginner manuals or HOWTO guides. To name a few: How can you include your company on the Wikipedia? Do's and don't for a casual contributor; How to dispute/reverse an unfair decision?.

I also think there are some take aways for Openbravo as a community. When you are immersed in the dynamics of the community, you can forget there are beginners who are trying to make sense of it. Some of these will become the core members of the future, and you can not alienate them or they will never participate in the game. Building a successful community is about ensuring there is something in it for everyone, regardless of the level of skills or knowdledge they have.

Please, let us know if we are not doing so!

Does Openbravo deserve to be on the Wikipedia?

2007-11-08T01:05:00.001+01:00

In case you didn't notice, Openbravo does not have an entry in the English edition of the Wikipedia, the fine community driven encyclopedia.

For some reason, the word Openbravo has been "blacklisted" and any attempt to create an entry about Openbravo gets automatically deleted.

The Wikipedia relies on a complex set of rules and policies which are enforced by the voluntary editors who are responsible for the quality of the site. Thanks to them, the Wikipedia remains an objective and dependable source of information. However, the "politics" in the application of these rules are, in many occasions, difficult to understand to an outsider. At least, this is my case.

I have opened a thread of discussion about the inclusion of Openbravo at
the talk page of a comparison of accounting software article. I have also requested it at the technology's requested articles page.

I would like to request the help of those of you knowledgeable about the inner workings of Wikipedia's community. If you believe Openbravo deserves an entry in the Wikipedia, can you show your favorable opinion in that threat? Can you help getting Openbravo out of the blacklist?

I know this is an argument Wikipedia editors accept, but I cannot understand why other fellow open source project are there and we are banned?

Sigh!

See you at the first international Openbravo community event

2007-10-25T01:56:00.000+01:00

There is no doubt that Openbravo's community is growing very fast. The strength of the product -which has been in production since 2001-, and a truly open company vision, which places the community at the core of everything we do (from development and testing to documentation) is no doubt helping.

Born on April 19th, 2006 (the date when Openbravo's code was first was published in SourceForge) the following indicators clearly show Openbravo's community has enjoyed a remarkable activity:

More than 350,000 accumulated downloads (today we have more than 1,000 average downloads a day)
1,400 bugs reported
41 registered localization projects
7,500 messages in 11 forums, with
172 individuals participating every month (17 are Openbravo employees)
67 registered developers in SourceForge.net (31 are Openbravo employees)
933 registered in the wiki (30 are Openbravo employees)

Right now I am getting the final confirmed attendants in our first international community gathering in Barcelona: the so called Openbravo Get Together and they look great! We have confirmed the attendance of almost 200 participants coming from 31 different countries representing all continents.

We will cover several topics, including business and technical aspects. We also will show case one of the first tangible results of the Open Solutions Alliance: the Common Customer View project's single sign-on.

For all of you attending ... THANK YOU and a WARM WELCOME TO BARCELONA! I don't have any doubts that you will enjoy the event and will help bring Openbravo's community one step forward.

For those that you can not attend, don't be sad: we will post the different presentations and summaries of the different sessions.

This is only the beginning!

Green Openbravo becomes Red Hot

2007-03-20T23:33:00.000+01:00

Today we have received the official confirmation that Openbravo is a winner for the acclaimed Red Herring 100 Europe 2007 award. The prize recognizes the 100 most promising start-ups driving the future of technology.

We are obviously very honoured to receive such an award, together with a host of very talented entrepreneurs. Our friends at BitRock for example are also on the list.

Starting up an ambitious company is not an easy task, and is obviously plaged with many doubts and uncertainties. This is the kind of thrill that makes the journey wortwhile but you certainly need, from time to time, that indepedent judges tell you are on the right track.

Receiving this prize is clearly a positive feedback for all the team at Openbravo and a good tribute to the hard work we are putting to achieve our goal of transforming the dynamics (sorry Microsoft, no pun intended) of enterprise software.

Let's hope this is only the beginning!

SAP's carpet

2007-03-16T00:26:00.000+01:00

Today I am in Hannover, where Openbravo is participating in the largest European tradeshow, CeBIT.

The show is breathtaking for its gigantic size. There are 25 halls dedicated to IT categories such as telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, solutions for financial services or the public administration. More than 6,000 companies are exhibiting there. The largest area is dedicated to Enterprise Software and spans across 8 halls.

SAP has deployed a flabbergasting booth (jumbo booth I should call it), which occupies almost half a pavilion. The infrastructure is a tribute to the sheer power of the company, and must have required a millionaire budget to set up. Even the carpet of the whole area has been specially manufactured to sport the SAP logo on it!

Ultimately, these marketing dollars all come from the bills paid by SAP's customers. This brings me to the point I wanted to make in this post: Can a different business model enable a more efficient use of those resources? Proprietary licensed software benefits from large economies of scale that require tremendous marketing effort. Open Source, on the contrary, focuses on development and leaves marketing mainly to the positive word of mouth derived from a good product.

No matter how successful Openbravo becomes, I don't think it will ever have a customized rug. On the other hand, I don't believe Openbravo will need one to convince its customers about the quality of its product...

LinuxWorld Open Solutions Summit

2007-02-01T01:37:00.000+01:00

In a couple of weeks I will participate in a roundtable on the next edition of the LinuxWorld which will be held in New York, NY. This time the event is dubbed Open Solutions Linux.

The rountable will be the official presentation of the Open Solutions Alliance and will be moderated by Collabnet's Founder and CTO, Brian Behlendorf. I will be sharing the panel with executives from participating alliance member companies, including:
- Kim Polese, CEO, SpikeSource
- Tom Manos, CTO, Centric CRM
- Javier Soltero, CEO, Hyperic
- Barry Klawans, CTO, JasperSoft
- William Soward, CEO, Adaptive Planning
- Andy Astor, President & CEO, EnterpriseDB Corp.

I would love to see you there. This is Thursday, February the 15th at 10:15 am. You can find the details for the session, at "Open Solutions AllianceForms to Promote Interoperability Between Open Source Solutions"

To Share or Not To Share

2007-01-28T23:30:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I had the pleasure to participate in a roundtable to discuss about “Ideas, Enterprises and Open Knowledge”. The roundtable was part of the Powerful Ideas Summit (see my previous post).

A number of powerful ideas (honoring the name of the event) were put forward, but I would like to single out here one of the thesis of John Perry Barlow (a real character and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation) about the benefits of sharing.

He talked about the dynamics of intellectual property as opposed to physical property, and highlighted an interesting difference. Whereas with physical goods, its value increases with the scarcity, with intellectual property exactly the opposite happens. The value of an idea increases with its diffusion. Obviously there are many businesses based on owning ideas (call it licenses, patents or copyrights). And very profitable businesses indeed: software and pharmaceutical companies among them. However, these businesses are still successful because their ideas have reached a wide dissemination: Windows and Office for Microsoft or Aspirin for Bayer to name a couple of examples

In my keynote, titled “Building Global Open Source Enterprises” I also presented a similar argument: “Sharing your assets, strengthens your business”. This is a counterintuitive argument to many, but I can tell you that every day I see more tangible evidence that the statement is true. What other, more powerful, mechanisms exist to spread an idea than freely sharing it (with the help of the Internet, I might add)?

For me, being an entrepreneur who is trying to build a successful business following this concept, the beauty of it is that sharing is not an attitude easily replicated by your competitors. Many businessmen are not prepared (or even afraid) to embrace this concept, or they don’t know how to do it (Should I share all or just a part of my knowledge? What tools should I use to ensure that sharing is an activity that works both ways in and out of the company?)

Powerful Ideas Summit

2007-01-18T23:51:00.000+01:00

Next Friday 26th I have been invited to participate on the Powerful Ideas Summit. The event has been beautifuly organized under the direction of Adolfo Plasencia by the University and Science Department of the Generalitat Valenciana and the Valencian Institute of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (IMPIVA).

The objectives of the summit are the following:

This Meeting has as a main objective to be a meeting point for sharing different visions, expertise, best practices, ways to see and do things differently in the world, joined by a common interest that cannot be given for granted: that of imaginative creative intelligence that boosts business creation, and which will be the shearest measure of its liveliness and high standard on a long and short term basis, as well as one of the most significant data for its future configuration.

In a keynote speech I will talk about Openbravo's experience delivering an open source application to small and midsize enterprises worldwide. Later I will also join a very promising round table to discuss about open source business models with:
- John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Juan Tomas García, blogger and MonoLabs founder and CEO
- Alfredo Romeo, Blobject.es founder and CEO
- Julio Yuste Tosina, Vivernet managing director and creator of LinexEmpresas
- Juan Reig, President of the Malaga's Open Source World Conference
There are also a number of high profile participants, who will account for a very interesting gathering of ideas. I really look forward to positive energy that this type of events generate. I will keep you posted with my conclusions.

Community built slideshows

2007-01-17T23:56:00.000+01:00

Hafed Benteftifa at blidainfo has created a handful slideshows to describe some of the basic operations with Openbravo. He has made them available to the community and posted them in Slideshare.net (see www.slideshare.net/tag/openbravo).

Topics currently covered include:
- Creating a new vendor invoice document
- Creating a new material receipt
- Creating a new purchase order
- Creating a new sales invoice document
- Creating a new sales order document
- Creating a new shipment document

The slides are really good, and frankly pretty useful. Again, yet another example of the nice things that happen when you share your software with the community. :-)

Hello world

2007-01-17T00:35:00.000+01:00

I have to recognize keeping a blog updated will be a very important effort for me. I hate writting, and I have a ton of things on my to do list. However, I thing spreading the word (or evagelizing, using an out of favor word) is an important task.
I hope I can use this space to share my thoughts with you and, most importantly, be able to get your feedback firsthand. Please, feel free to comment my posts.
Anyway, here we go. Let's see what happens...