Its 2010. And amongst my many resolutions is to have a weekly blog. So here goes. And who knows, it may be the beginning of a writing career. :-)
And if any of you happen to stumble upon it, and like it, please do drop in a line. I guess we all love to know that someone actually reads what one writes.
This blog will be about nothing and about everything. The little things that matter. And the ones that don't.
Day 1 of 2010, we decided to release Web Reporter in the Open Source. And 1 question that hit me was when a colleague asked, What's that ? So let me try and give a simplified version of "Open Source".
A group of people believe that software should be available for free, like the air we breathe. Now whilst this sounds dramatic, its actually how the rest of the world works. Think about this. You are free to tinker around with the car you buy. But you cannot tinker with the software you buy. Since you have purchased a license to use. Not the software.
OpenSource gives the right to the acquirer to not only receive the software and its source code but also the right to resell it with or without modifications, without any monetary benefit to the original developer. A good article to get insights on OpenSource is "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric Raymond. And can be freely downloaded.
Web Reporter is our first experiment with OpenSource and its commercial viability. We have also uploaded the same at SourceForge, one of the most popular sites for hosting of OpensSource software.
The concept of Web Reporter is pretty simple. It allows you to connect to any database and create your own report templates. This allows one to create reports that don't exist. Its beauty is its ease of use and ability to create powerful dynamic reports. Do check it out.
And in signing off, here's the thought for the week. And from none other than Albert Einstein.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."
Cheers and have an awesome 2010.
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