Spain's World Cup Lessons for Business

Openbravo would like to congratulate Spain on a great World Cup victory.  It was well-deserved and a testament to the team's patience, stamina and skill.  They stayed  true to their philosophy, and did not waver from a proven strategy--even after an upset loss in the first match.


As a global company with origins in Spain, Openbravo is proud of this landmark achievement, and also the way it was achieved.  I think there is a lot that companies can learn from the hard work,  perseverance and interdependence of the Spanish players.  I also see many of the same underlying attributes in Openbravo’s team and extended  ecosystem, and I know that similar perseverance, execution, and faithfulness to our open source strategy will ultimately yield great results for Team Openbravo. 


¡Felicidades España!

Openbravo Forge achieves growth milestone: 10k Developers

I just noticed that Openbravo Forge, the collaborative development environment from Openbravo, has reached the 10 thousand developer mark!   When I last blogged about it in August 2009, Openbravo Forge had 6997 developers and 139 projects.  Now we are at 10000 developers, working together on over 300 ERP-related projects!

This steady growth demonstrates what an open source community can do when a best-in-class project like Openbravo ERP is paired with a robust collaboration tool like Openbravo Forge. 

Note that I am using the term "developer" in a general sense.   Developing world class web-based ERP solutions for SMB requires a wide range of talent.  So in addition to ERP application developers, Openbravo Forge users  include ERP functional experts, System Architects, QA analysts, User Experience experts, and people involved in documentation, language translation, localization, and more.   If you have an interest in ERP, check out Openbravo Forge to see what all of the excitement is about!  Hint: it may have a little bit to do with collaboration and innovation...  :)

Continued growth of Openbravo Exchange

We are pleased to announce that our friends from Datafashion  have just published a new developer-oriented module called the Interceptor Filter.  This module, which appears in Openbravo Exchange's growing Tools section, provides an easy way to intercept a user command, and attach custom logic to it without changing the core source code.

In related Openbravo Exchange news, the philosophy at Openbravo is to grow the Exchange organically and at high quality from the very beginning.  We want Openbravo Exchange to be a place that people can go to with confidence to find high quality, valuable extensions modules that they can easily install and combine to meet their unique needs.  To ensure that all Exchange modules install and uninstall correctly as we deliver monthly maintenance packs, we are testing all of them on a continuous integration basis per this defined process, which uses the Selenium toolset described in this recent recorded webinar.

So, if you don't find what you are looking for in Openbravo ERP, please remember to check out Openbravo Exchange.  New native Openbravo modules are being added all the time, and we are working hard to apply the latest technology and best-in-class processes to help assure high quality.

Openbravo expands Cloud support with native Ubuntu 9.10 package

As announced in this recent blog post, Openbravo has released a native Openbravo ERP package for Ubuntu 9.10, which brings an important new capability to Openbravo users: full support on the Amazon Cloud.    Here are the official AMI (Amazon Machine Image) IDs for Ubuntu 9.10.  If you are new to Amazon Web Services, Ubuntu's EC2 Starter's Guide will get you started with instructions on how to create an account and start and manage a new instance.

With the native Ubuntu 9.10 package, Openbravo is now providing another fully-supported, standard way to deploy to the cloud (in addition to our cloud appliance)--just start with the 9.10 AMI and install the Openbravo Ubuntu package, as usual.   This is an ideal option for customers of all sizes who appreciate the flexibility, security, and wide range of applications available for easy installation on Ubuntu Server, combined with the benefits of deploying Openbravo ERP on the public Amazon Cloud, which include:

• freedom from the cost and hassle of acquiring and managing your own physical hardware
• low monthly billing, with the ability to incrementally increase the computer resources you pay for, as you need them
• secure, browser access to Openbravo ERP from anywhere in the world
• ability to achieve efficient, off-site backup

WIth Openbravo' Ubuntu 9.10 package, larger organizations and SaaS providers seeking to deploy Openbravo ERP  on a private cloud behind their own firewall can do so with the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud--which is compatible with the Amazon public cloud, enabling easy migration and the ability to "burst" to the public cloud during peak periods as needed.

Cloud computing is growing steadily, and recent surveys suggest that further acceleration in cloud adoption is on the horizon.  Cloud computing, Ubuntu, and Openbravo ERP are all now past the "early adopter" stage, and together provide an ideal combination for many SMBs.  Openbravo customers are increasingly deploying on the cloud, and we at Openbravo use the Amazon EC2 Cloud extensively in our own IT infrastructure.  We have extensive real world experience with it, and can attest to the benefits.  Now is a great time to get started with Openbravo ERP, Ubuntu, and the Amazon Cloud!

Launch of Openbravo Exchange: the ERP Marketplace

I have written in the past about Openbravo Forge, Openbravo's collaborative development environment, and now I'm pleased to announce the launch of Openbravo Exchange--the place to go for information about extension modules that are "ready for prime time". If the Forge is the sausage factory, then the Exchange is the delicatessen, featuring a series of "ready-to-use" software packages that are catalogued and described with the end user in mind. :)

Here are the top things to know about Openbravo Exchange:

• Openbravo business partners now have an official, high-profile web site they can leverage to promote and monetize their Openbravo commercial extension modules and templates
• All business partners are allowed evaluation-only access to all Exchange modules (so they can sell them on the author's behalf, and get a sales commission of course)
• As an author, you don't have to worry about invoicing and collecting money--we do that, and you collect periodic author royalty payments!
• Good zero-cost open source modules from anyone are also welcome, of course (nice way to get your name out there)
• We are starting with a self-certification model, here are the certification criteria
• You ain't seen nothin' yet! (this is just version 1.0, stay tuned for a more dynamic Exchange with reviews, ratings, etc.)

If you are a business partner with Openbravo-based commercial software to sell through our channel, here are the steps to package and sell it. If you are a business partner implementing solutions for your clients, check Openbravo Exchange before proposing to close functional gaps with a custom project--what your customer needs may already be available off-the-shelf, as a fully-tested package! If you are new to Openbravo and interested in leveraging your development skills, the Openbravo ERP Developer's Guide is the place to start.

Here is the official press release, which features the Hotel Management System from Bonsai Consulting--best of luck to you with this module, Ravi. And happy developing and selling to all in the Openbravo community in 2010, as we unleash the business of modularity!

Openbravo announces commercial relationship with Canonical + native Ubuntu package

In case you haven’t seen the press release (Openbravo broadens support for Ubuntu with commercial open source ERP package), Openbravo now provides a fully-supported, subscription-based ERP offering on Ubuntu’s technology stack, with an easy-to-install native Ubuntu package. The pre-integrated and supported technology stack features Ubuntu 9.04, PostgreSQL 8.3, and Tomcat 6. If you want to skip the press release and head straight to the goodies, this link will tell you how.

So now what’s your excuse for not implementing Openbravo ERP? ☺

Openbravo Forge: Real-world Collaborative Development Examples

Since joining Openbravo in April, I have spent time speaking with members of our ecosystem and personally experiencing the Openbravo Forge. As expected, members of the ecosystem can now complete projects in collaboration with or independently from Openbravo staff. However, I am surprised by the results we have been able to achieve so quickly, and am really please to see how some business practices have dramatically improved.

Re: the quantitative numbers, as of this writing the Openbravo Forge statistics (publicly shown in the upper right corner of the screen) read “139 projects and 6997 developers”!

Read on for some qualitative examples of what is happening at the Openbravo Forge.

Partner and Ecosystem Contributions and the Resulting Exposure

The old way: Openbravo Partners and the ecosystem completed extensions and had difficulty sharing them worldwide.

The new way: Openbravo Partners and the ecosystem are collectively sharing extensions, gaining wide exposure in the process.

Success Stories: Since the Forge went live, companies like Opensistemas have started publishing some of their extensions there. During an implementation for well-recognized European Fast Food Chain Bocatta, Opensistemas implemented POS features such as a kitchen monitor, an expanded menu, and an ingredients menu. For those in the ecosystem, these features are available here.

Community Translation and Localization Projects

The old way: Openbravo staff created an SVN branch so translators and the community could support these efforts. Openbravo staff was required to personally create localization packages and release them on our specific release schedule.

The new way: The Openbravo Forge lets anyone create their own translation project and release it as desired. They do not require any daily support from Openbravo.

Success Stories: Since the Forge went live, Openbravo staff has been able to invest more time supporting ecosystem efforts and less time on basic administration. As a result, country location projects are growing daily:

• Estonian Translation
• German Translation
• Russian Translation
• Arabic Translation
• and much more...

Independently Learning about and Creating Openbravo Modules

The old way: The ecosystem learned how to develop on top of Openbravo via wiki documentation.

The new way: The forge makes it more attractive to learn how to develop modules via interactive collaboration with Openbravo.

Success Stories: Right now in Pakistan, a Computer Science Professor is using the Forge to mentor development projects for his students. With the forge, his students have all the tools they need to learn about a development process in open source. The result for the ecosystem is a set of new and exciting features. The result of Openbravo is the opportunity to mentor the teacher and the students on how to develop for Openbravo. You can check their progress here and here.

Partners and the Ecosystem Create and Manage Projects in Private on the Forge…for Free

The old way: Some partners and ecosystem members were required to pay for a private Forge space, manage their projects on a public Forge, or potentially use a rudimentary sharing tool in order to control project management.

The new way: Partners can manage their projects privately on the Openbravo Forge. Neither Openbravo nor the community will have any access to private project content. Free hosted project services include forums, news, downloads, bug tracking, versioning control system for code, and Wiki / Central Repository modules integration.

Success Stories: As of today, Openbravo is only aware of the 115 public projects on the Forge. Unless a staff member is provided access by a project administrator, we are unable to view any work being completed in a private Forge project.

The Forge is actively helping the ecosystem quickly bring Openbravo ERP to new markets and industries. This is because members of the ecosystem can independently connect with one another. They can also have the flexibility to choose what projects to work on, or even to start a project publicly or privately. As for Openbravo, we spend much less time on administration and basic coordination, and much more time on guidance and support.

Virtual and Face-to-Face Collaboration

One final thought on Openbravo’s growing ecosystem and our efforts to support it. While the Openbravo Forge is a great tool to support asynchronous collaboration, we at Openbravo also strongly believe in the traditional face-to-face method, and our biggest event is the Openbravo World Conference (OBWC). For a glimpse of what the 2009 edition offered, please see this video. Happy collaborating via the forge, and I hope to see you at OBWC 2010!