Open Source Programs:

Hosting
Installation
Customizing
Support

We host the Open Source programs shown here and others. We provide installation, setup, training support and monitoring to meet your needs.

What is Open Source? First, it is FREE. Open Source programs are available to anyone without cost and they include the source code. Having sorce code allows a programmer to modify the program.

The Open Source community has provided some of the very best programs and scripts available. All better web servers use at least some of it.

We can support a large number of Open Source programs to suite your needs. To protect you, we require reasonable security is already built into the program, and the better ones have this. Also, programs must be primarily written in the PHP language. The Open Source programs below are those we specialize in.

Shopping carts: Shopping carts are complex programs include many functions. Currently we recommend only one Open Source shopping cart until a second cart is found that meet our standards.

• osCommerce is a mature, stable and secure shopping cart. osCommerce can hold an unlimited number of products, is easy to use and administrate and can be customize for appearance and function for almost any situation. If you have bought very much over the Internet, you probably have used the cart.

  This cart is typically used to present products and complete the sale. Most instances of the cart are small modifications from the default appearance. However, it can be modified to look totally different from its default and even used only for inventory and checkout functions, while products are shown on conventional web pages.

Content Management Systems (CMS): CMS programs vary by the type of usage they focus on. Open Source CMS program selection needs to consider the intended use. For example, a blog is a special form of CMS usage. Other uses are online newsletter, magazine, group activities, instruction and even typical website content. We specialize in the following:

• WordPress is a Blog form of CMS and is the most popular on the net for that purpose. It is well written, easy for users and administrators, has good security and is customizable. A full list of features is available at this site.
• e107 CMS is particularly well suited for groups and/or publications. It has a great many features and additional plugins available, including syndication (RSS feed), on site chat and message forum. Privileges of users and administrators can be generalized or as specific as needed very easily.
• Mediawiki is the wiki written specifically for Wikipedia and made available to the Open Source community. It can be used in very simple form, equivalent to a simple CMS, up to a complex system of authors with messaging and collaboration. It is expandable, only limited by the size of the database serving it.
• phpBB Forum is mature, stable and found frequently around the Internet. It has many features, provides great navigation to visitors and is easy to administer.
• Joomla CMS. This is mentioned here only because of its popularity. We do not support or host it, initially because it does not have a double opt-in sign-up system that is typical of such programs. Additionally, it appears to have a greater commercial aspect, many people selling extensions and templates. That is not wrong but does deviate from the Open Source concept more than most.

Many other OS programs are available and we may host and support them on request. If you have one that you would like to handle for you, please let us know.

The Open Source programs above, as with most, are very large programming works that require thousands of hours to create. While they are mature and stable, they are works in progress and will continue to evolve.