Open letter: Please automate the installation of enterprise grade open source business software for the benefit of the community
Attention:
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SWSoft (developers of Plesk);
Chief Executive Officer, CPanel;
Webmin development community
Getautomatix development community
Dear Sir/Madam
I use, and have used, all of your products at various times for various ventures. I am writing to you to request you add some features to your products. These should be simple additions, but their impact could be profound. As you know, a web server leased for US$40 per month can run a small business. The web host usually makes a copy of Plesk or CPanel available to the user to manage the server. Your software can transform this modest expenditure into significant value for the community by offering a comprehensive range of open source software. Given the penetration of your collective products, these feature changes would empower the commercial and social entrepreneurs and may accelerate the rise of online industry networks and the rise of online social networks. This may deliver significant economic benefits for the global community. It may also present a business opportunity for you that could drive the next stage of growth.
As you and I know, there is a significant amount of open source software that runs on PHP and MySQL on a web server. Installation usually involves creating a database and copying some files. This can be simple, but is usually beyond the average user. This is an impediment to the adoption of open source and makes open source inaccessible to the average user. Your software changes this by automatically installing sophisticated open source software in minutes after answering a few questions. Of course, configuring the software would be the user’s responsibility, but your system could deliver software that could be used immediately.
Your products currently automatically install a variety of open source applications quickly and easily for web sites. The current Plesk Application Vault applications are listed here. A tutorial demonstrating the Plesk Application Vault is available here. I propose the addition of business focussed open source applications to the Plesk Application Pack. The CPanel Features are listed here. Unfortunately, I could not find a specific list of the available open source applications on the CPanel web site. Webmin and Automatix are also products that could ease the installation process. The applications offered by Plesk and CPanel do not include some empowering enterprise grade groupware, accounting and CRM systems. I am hoping you would consider adding these applications to your systems.
Business applications for immediate installation
I would recommend the following:
- Egroupware: an leading Open Source collaboration application that is being adopted by some governments around the world. Recent developments have made this a viable alternative to Microsoft Exchange. Those developments include integration with Outlook on the desktop.
- WebERP: an small multi-currency accounting system (for business with turnover less than US$5m)
- SugarCRM: an open source customer relationship management system
- SQL-Ledger: is a small multi-currency accounting system for companies with revenue up to US$25m
- Compiere: an ERP system for companies with a turnover up to US$250m
- Opengroupware
- Zimbra
A review of the software that could run business would uncover many applications. The minimum requirement should be enterprise grade groupware, accounting systems and CRM applications.
Automated installation of backoffice for KDE groupware wizard
There is one idea that may have a significant impact. The two leading Linux distributions, Ubuntu and Opensuse, install a Linux desktop quickly and easily. They also come preinstalled with the KDE collaboration wizard. This will connect Evolution (the equivalent of Microsoft Outlook) to four open source groupware applications quickly. Those four applications are egroupware, Kolab, Suse Linux Openexchange (SLOX) and Novell Groupwise. Imagine a world where one individual could install a complete desktop, configure a groupware server and integrate the two in a few hours. The social and commercial ramifications would be exponential.
A business opportunity - end user demand for current versions of open source software
Ideally, every installation of Plesk or CPanel would always install the most recent version of an application. In my experience, the versions of open source applications usually available from your products are typically 12 months behind current versions. Your products could become a conduit for the open source community and your software could ease installation hassles. The demand from web site users for current versions of open source applications could drive the demand from web hosting companies for your product. The web host could distinguish their product offering by stating “The latest open source applications are available for quick install here”. The current open source applications offered by you could be kept up to date with an online update service. It may even be possible to sell the commercial versions of open source versions through your platform.
