In Alvantia, as one of the headers of our services says, we are passionate about open source. And with good reason! We understand open source as an option which can be developed, improved and adapted to create a solution for every client.
But what is open source and can it give me what I’m looking for? Open Source split off from the Free Software project almost 15 years ago, partly to avoid the ambiguity of the term Free Software. An Open Source product is basically one that allows access to the source code but must also allow free distribution and derivative works under the same license, as well as other restrictions on the license which can be seen under the definition of the Open Source Initiative.
Some open source projects are very powerful and important, such as the OpenSSL or Spring Framework. The former is vital for cryptography, security and digital certification issues, and is widely used for security in GNU/Linux servers and digital certificates in Apache Server. The latter is one of the most important for J2EE-based development, which is experiencing exponential growth, largely due to sharing code, the size of its community (people interested in it), and the possibility of creating new branches of the framework which gradually become part of the core of Spring.
In less technical and more practical issues, there are numerous products to create web sites that are open source. In Alvantia we rely on the best established and most innovative products available.
One of these products, which is very popular right now, is Liferay. Originally conceived as a portal manager it has gradually gained much ground in document management, especially in its latest version. Liferay is used to create portals by placing small panels on each page. These panels are called portlets and each has a fully differentiated function and use.Liferay is developed in Java and complies with the JSR-168 and JSR-286 Java Portlet standards, in addition to the JSR-170 content repository standard, ensuring good integration with other modules and products. Another similar product is Alfresco, which unlike Liferay, began as a document manager and every day gets closer to what is expected of a web content manager. Both products meet Java standards making them communicate well with each other and many global solutions, using both products as part of the solution.
Both Alfresco and Liferay have two types of licenses: the community and the enterprise version. Community Editions are free version software without client support for development or incidents, so its only support is the wide community around both products. Enterprise Editions are paid versions which, besides helping the development of new product improvements, provide support for incidents and, in some cases, support for development.
Leaving aside the world of J2EE, other content management systems (CMS) based on PHP, are very well known; for example, Joomla!. This product is a manager intended for portals where you want to share content and news in a simple way. Installation is almost standard, it is usually mounted on a MySQL database and Apache Server.
What advantages do I get from these products?
The Open Source products we have discussed, and most existing products in general, provide a basis for developers and clients who can focus all their efforts on the characteristics of the project being addressed. There is also a noticeable difference in the costs of products, both initially and when the product is adapted.
Almost all of these products are prepared, personalised with the client’s brand design, to go into production as distributed. But there are always open source enthusiasts to develop something you may want for your own needs.
