Any Open Source alternatives to SAP (ERP)?

Well, it depends on what you're looking for, of course. I'm not sure that any open source ERP is a suitable replacement for a large-scale R/3 implementation (yet)... but that's less than 1% of the universe, of course. You might want to look at my company's offering, xTuple ERP. The totally free PostBooks Edition is available for download from SourceForge, and the commercial Standard and OpenMFG Editions are available under a community source license with either a subscription or perpetual purchase. There's a high-level functional comparison at www.xtuple.com/comparison, and a couple dozen Flash videos you can review at www.xtuple.com/demo/video, showing various areas of application functionality.

Cheers,
Ned

[Mod]Removed the signature that wasn't an actual signature. Please add such things to your signature settings in your profile, not in the actual post.[/Mod]

I think open source business solutions is the new front line against proprietary software.

Many are OSI certified but run by commercial entities that keep two versions;
an open community version & a closed shop enterprise/professional version for which fees apply. The community is used to debug the 90% core while a fee is charged to “cherry on top” that makes it truly useful. For open source the issue is not so much the fee charged as the fact that, in order to be able to dual license in this manner the code must be kept clear of outside contributions so the 100% control is maintained.

One OpenSource ERP Project that strives to keeps the bazaar at centre is Adempiere.

Hi croo,

With all respect, I think we try to keep the bazaar at centre with xTuple as well - certainly we try to project-manage ongoing development, but always with the goal of growing the product through meaningful real-world contributions (not just debugging). See www.xtuple.com/news/20080325.php for a story highlighting 13 major areas of xTuple ERP functionality contributed by our customers.

Cheers,
Ned

Hi Ned,
I actually wrote my last response before your post, but by the time I posted you had also posted, so xTuble & OpenMFG were not in my mind as I wrote the above.

After saying that, I personally feel the comments do fit well with OpenMFG - It's been a while since I read the OpenMfg license but I had never understood OpenMFG to be open source!? I just read now the and CPAL that comes with Postbooks I did think it came a long way short of GPL in terms of the freedoms it provides (even if it is OSI). I didn't see the license that accompanies OpenMFG prominently displayed (as with PostBooks)? Is it OSI certified? Perhaps you can post a link here to the license that covers OpenMfg to make it easy for people to decide?

But perhaps it is pointless to argue about this subject. Different companies have different needs... we can simply set out our wares and people are free to choose.

I would say; Adempiere doesn't try to use the bazaar... Adempiere it is a bazaar! Although I admit to being one of its many members and so would be biased, I would say to anybody who wants to be part of something rather than a customer... check it out! On the other hand if you DO wish to be a customer and not be involved in development you will find, in the open market place, that is the bazaar many professional services firms able to implement the shared ERP solution that has been built up.

Colin Rooney
A member of the Adempiere Bazaar

Hi Colin,

I'm glad you're happy as part of the Adempiere community. But please don't think it's the only such open source ERP project with that dynamic going on. There are thousands of people who use PostBooks, participate in our "bazaar," and never have any commercial relationship with xTuple.

As for the licensing question, in my original post, I wrote:
I think that's pretty clear. Didn't say, nor have we ever said in seven years, that the OpenMFG Edition is OSI-certified "open source." But all three editions of xTuple ERP share the same code base - in fact the client is exactly the same - so we're able to see that enhancements to any one product have the chance to flow back into all three. So you have users of the commercially-licensed products directly feeding the open source base product.

I know I probably shouldn't ask..., but I'm curious what "freedoms" you think users of CPAL-licensed code are lacking. (ducks, runs for cover)...

Best,
Ned

Actually most of SAP code is open source. All the ABAP/4 code is open source. It's not free, but it's open source.

Hello again Ned,

You know I'm torn as whether I should reply to your questions or or not Ned. Torn because, one it doesn't help the OP with their original question and two because I don't wish to start some kind of flame war. We have both set out our projects, I added I believe people should look closely & consider the license before deciding.

Having used Linux since the early 90s, I am of course very aware of, and very happy to see, the huge communities growing around the 1000s of open source projects available these days. It warms my heart! And I am too also aware the Adempiere project is a relatively young in all this.

And I have no axe to grind against xTuple, you Ned or OpenMFG, as a I said I did not have you in mind when I posted originally. My original post was directly to the OP but it just happens your post arrived before mine so it could look like my response was your post.

Now considering Agrouf believes SAP to be Open Source ... xTuple might be considered by many a beacon of light in a world were people consider SAP Open Source!

My view and I'm not the type of person that thinks everyone else should hold my view too, but my view of Open Source would be more aligned with those of Richard Stallman. To me Open Source is about changing the software industry from one selling code as an asset to one producing code, that is freely transferable, as a service.

Mixing Postbooks & OpenMFG here I think confuses the matter as OpenMFG is not open source – at least not in the sense of how that phrase is normally used and I would guess how the OP meant? From my brief read of the license (at http://www.xtuple.com/about/license) it seems to fall under the SAP concept of Open Source. So Postbooks begins to look like the teaser to get people on the first step of the commercial OpenMfg ladder? And while the community I'm sure are very happy, the bottom line is they are developing, enhancing & debugging xTuple's asset. An asset freely shared for now, but ultimately an asset xTuple is free to dispose of as they wish. This is a scenario with risks the MySQL community are now finding out about.

I saddens me to see it, but I believe many commercial enterprises use the “Open Source” tag as a marketing ply to attract customers who have heard of and been attracted to “Open Source” but are not aware of the subtle but important differences in the multitude of “open” licenses appearing.

I would say, if you believe CPAL offers as much freedom as GPL then I think the proof is in the pudding and it should matter not then if you distributed postbooks & openMFG under GPL instead?

The Adempiere project is a little different to most, in the open source business software arena, in that it has no commercial core. The individual members (companies & individuals) offer that commercial requirement ... and it is a requirement in a business environment. With no owners Adempiere cannot be bought or sold and the code itself is free for all to use, copy and distribute under GPL. There are no hidden costs or licenses. Would be users are free to implement themselves or look for commercial services to help them. In the Adempiere Bazaar they will find professionals & companies with experience of the product and of implementing it. These professionals & companies are not licensed so there are no hidden costs there. And ultimately the would be users are free to choose whom ever and how ever the wish to achieve their business goals. This to me is the world Richard Stallman envisaged when he embarked on his endeavour to free use all with his crazy idea of “Free Software”.

Colin

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I won't say much more, other than observe that we created the original xTuple ERP software ourselves 100%, and have built a business around it - a business that works in partnership with local SIs and VARs, and as such cannot depend solely on services revenues for the vendor (since the partners are often providing those services). A commercial license is a construct that many customers still seek out, and prefer.

As for your MySQL point, while I've admired the success they've had as a business, I've always preferred the community model of the PostgreSQL project (and in fact xTuple's ERP is built on PostgreSQL, with all the business logic in the DB, and no middle tier). I think PostgreSQL has had a far more active and successful community in terms of contributions and activity outside the core group. In MySQL's case, their desire to control the code limited their ability to attract and engage community contributions.

Our hope with xTuple is to combine the two models in some way - to engage a community as diverse and talented as the PostgreSQL community, but to build a successful business around what I'd call "loose control" of the core product.

Cheers,
Ned

Well, Ned, at least we can end our conversation in agreement that PostgreSQL is a great Database & Project... I always thought it far a superior database to mySql too!

As a developer I believe building a complete ERP is an achievement to be proud of regardless of business & distribution models, so I congratulate you on that, Ned, and wish you every success in your endeavours to combine your business & community.

with warm regards

Colin

Something quite unrelated, but you seem to be quite involved
in adempiere ... has this project overcome the SQL injection
flaws that compiere was riddled with, and are login processes
being stored in a fashion that isn't prone to (trivial) java
decompilation? I've watched people gain unauthorised access
to compiere in under 4 minutes.


Cheers,
Tink

Hi Tink
Well I'm more involved with the business logic aspects but to my knowledge the SQL injection problems that have been identified have been addressed, but if you are aware of further security problems that have you think have not been addressed then please do report them to security@adempiere.org. But Adempiere is open to all, so an even better idea is to join in and help fix any problems

Colin