Five Killer Trends that Would Redefine Business Apps

Continued from page: 6

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Open Source Business Applications

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So far we have discussed trends that are and will transform the way business applications will be used in an enterprise. While these are all exciting, they come at a cost. So if you're on a tight budget, then here's some good news for you. The Open Source community has started churning out lots of different business applications, be it ERP, CRM, SCM, web based collaboration, unified communication, document or content management. You name the application and you'll find something in the Open Source world.

The demand for Open Source business applications can easily be noticed if one visits sourceforge.net, where 400+ Open Source ERP solutions are listed. Obviously not all of them would be useful, but you can figure that out by looking at which ones have been downloaded the most. For instance, one of them, Compiere ERP+CRM software has been downloaded millions of times, which clearly indicates its popularity.

We have also carried around 20 Open Source ERP solutions on this month's DVD for you to check out. Most Open Source ERP solutions are based on Java, provide a web-based interface, and require PHP. They do require a RDBMS to work, and will normally work with PostgreSQL or MySQL. Some will even work with commercial databases like Oracle.

In the pages to follow, we've explained how to implement one of the ERP solutions, OpenBravo that we've provided on this month's DVD.
 

Compiere the Compuntu way Compiere is one of the most popular Open Source ERP + CRM solutions, having most of the features that a production class ERP solution should have. But its installation and configuration are not everyone's cup of tea. We found a German Ubuntu based Virtual Appliance for VMWare which has Compiere preconfigured. This appliance is called Compuntu. Installation: To run it download the appliance image from the http://vmware.com/appliances/directory/160 and unzip and run it through VMWare Player. Now first change the language to English by clicking on the Link which says “Sprache,” ie Language in German. Now log on to the desktop by providing username “iku” and password “iku”. Once the desktop appears, you will see only one icon on the desktop called “Kompiere” Click on it and it will open a java based wizard screen. Here all the values are preconfigured, so all you have to do is to click on the Green Tick button. Another screen will appear, click on the Tick Button again and your Compiere frontend will open up.

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