Open Source entrepreneur

The build once reuse everywhere web application.

PHP / Javascript web applications today are more complex than ever.
We use a framework or a CMS for the base functionalities, place in it a template system, include a few additional modules, then add some PEAR classes and a couple of javascript toolkits.
Finally we glue everything together with our custom code.
Sound familiar?

Unless you write everything from scratch using only the base PHP functions, most of the time web applications are composed from various components and libraries.

Now here is the fun part. 2 weeks after going live with one of the libraries, modules or CMS it become insecure due to a newly discovered vulnerability.

I found it hard to maintain and upgrade all those applications, modules and libraries each time there is a bug fix or security advisory.

Wouldn't it be great if you could just press one button and get that part of your project upgraded to the latest most secure version?

This is now possible for applications packaged in a Linux distribution but not for web applications.

What the perfect web application packaging system would look like:
- It would be project centric
- Manage and resolve dependencies
- Install and upgrade database data and structure
- One click upgrade or install
- Not writable by the web browser user
- 100% in PHP
- Work with all the frameworks
- Web based user interface

A few web application packaging solutions already exist.
Debian as created Debian packages for the most popular PHP web applications. Pear package is today probably the most advanced packaging system available for web applications. A lot of todays frameworks or CMS have their own packaging systems.

But they all have shortcomings that make it difficult for us to use and work with.

Debian is per server installation, so on one server you can't develop multiple projects.
We had similar problems with PEAR and found it very difficult to work with on development servers when we only wanted selected packages to be available for selected projects.
All the built-in package and update feature we found in frameworks and CMS require manual downloads and installs of modules or themes.

So a few years back we started our own web application package solution.

The goal was to meet all the above criteria, and its harder than it sounds.

The solution we created is a 2 step package installation.
All the projects are created on a development server. In the first step, we install packages of libraries, toolkits and full applications from a web based user interface. In the second step we publish the web application to a live server with a built-in synchronization application.
Then the packaging system secures all the folders and reconfigures the application to work on the live server. (converts absolute file or url path, database connection information.... )
We even added an experimental feature to update the database structure when upgrades are uploaded to the live server.

This 2 steps package installation allows us to have a secure published application with a web based package manager.

We still have a lot of work to do but we are definitely on the right track, our current packaging system is usable and most of the features listed above are implemented and working.

You can give it a try at http://radria.sqlfusion.com/

Got an email from Palm about dropping the Foleo and concentrating on their new operating system.

The iPhone technology is showing its effects also with Nokia demonstrating new touch screen capabilities for their next version of Symbian OS:
Nokia iPhone

The competition is reacting and the good news is that everything is moving the phone closer to a web terminal.

The number of web applications for the iPhone are increasing at a faster rate than any other Mobile OS.

They are web based allowing them to take full advantage of Web 2.0 technologies and networking capabilities.

With its 1 year advance Apple is setting up THE standard for cell phone web applications.

Next year we will mostlikely see Palm OS, Sybian, PocketPC and Opera releasing web browsers compatible with iPhone web applications.

Prediction never works, lets see....

We are putting together a new Open Source Project for PHP and javascript developers.

Its called Radria and stand for Rapid Development of Rich Internet Application.

Its a collection of 100% web based tools to build web applications.

For the last 5 years we are building web applications for customers and to help us in that task we created a collection of tools to reuse code and make our job faster and better.

Its not a new CMS
Its not a new Framework

Its a totally new concept for Web Application development.

Stay tune we will have information very soon

I responded to Tom Davenport article on Why Enterprise 2.0 Won't Transform Organizations.
Tom, imply that knowledge sharing in enterprise will not evolve with Web 2.0 technologies.

As I am convinced it will, here is my response:
Tom,

I believe Enterprise 2.0 will be a big thing. It will take a significant amount of time, it may not be the next one, but it will.

Like a lot of technology it will change its name as it evolve and mature. The current E2.0 tools are in their second generation within 2 years you will have the third. Once the increase of productivity is proven and the tools/software integrated in the enterprises process and organization, a real evolution in enterprise will begin.

Take our small company, we are part of a new type of business that have fully integrated web 2.0 technologies.

Its started with the marketing, using blogs, forums, web 2.0 sites to build up awareness. Then we started integrating in house a Wiki, RSS Agregator, bookmarking software, web based email and groupware. Followed by Jabber instant messaging and Asterisk Voip PBX.

What happened next was a big thing, a significant evolution in our company. Inspired by MySQL organizational model we closed our head quarter office in Los Angeles where we had all our employees.

The company exploded in multiple small offices all over the world, Los Angeles, London, Bangalore, Paris.

Since then we have triple our profits and increased our growth.

Instant Message, wiki, voip, intranet and email make the backbone of our knowledge exchange.

All our applications are web based. Email, groupware, CRM, helpdesk, project management, CMS, intranet, accounting, invoicing, wiki, rss agregator, bookmarks, blogs.

Those technology enabled us to reorganized the company much more efficiently.

Enterprise 2.0 contribute to the global flattening.

As companies like ours grow and take advantages of Web 2.0 technologies to increase productivity, profit and employee satisfaction new organizational charts will defined, new management rules created, knowledge sharing optimized.

That what will make Enterprise 2.0 the future big thing.

I don't see big companies do what we did next week but I see it as a sure evolution that will affect the enterprise world overtime.

A new Beta of Open Source Fusion is live at:
www.opensourcefusion.com

The beta access code for this release is: osfbeta

This new beta includes 3 new applications a wiki software (dokuwiki) a project management software (netoffice) and a CRM software (Vtiger).

Net Office screen shot:

Give us your feedback, tel us what you think.