Comments on: What Open Source Means to Social Media http://roymorejon.com/what-open-source-means-to-social-media/ Internet Marketing & Social Media Consultant Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:58:03 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Brian Hamlett http://roymorejon.com/what-open-source-means-to-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-56 Brian Hamlett Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:51:57 +0000 http://roymorejon.com/?p=71#comment-56 Wow, this is an interesting take on "open source" and some really random statements in my opinion. What makes open source the "natural platform" for fast-evolving social media apps? Is it because the tools (depending on what this person is referring to) are free to download, use, customize, etc. because you have the source code? Also, what do they mean by not having to "link together multiple applications"? Because you still do. For instance, if I wanted a blog combined with a portal combined with a CRM tool and all with "open source" tools, I'd have to program a connection between say Wordpress with something like Joomla and feeding in leads into a SugarCRM implementation. So, there is A LOT of work to be done to utilize social media tools to build these "applications." Now, all I've ever used is "open source" apps and tools and they've all required my knowledge of PHP/MySQL/Linux/Apache in order to make them work, BUT if you CAN work with these system (have the skills and knowledge) then you most certainly can pump out new tools/apps/platforms relatively quickly! So, to answer the original question: open source has always played into every one of my business initiatives because my core focus is using the Internet to form connections (in sales, networks, biz opps, etc.) I love the fact that I can take a tool that is 80% of what I already need and then code in the remaining 20% just to create a rough version of my idea and immediately get it out there testing. It saves time, saves money, but IS NOT as easy as you would think! So, yes, "open source" is something to be excited about, but usually for those of us that know what it is, how to work with it, and better yet how to manipulate the code to build what we really want! Wow, this is an interesting take on “open source” and some really random statements in my opinion. What makes open source the “natural platform” for fast-evolving social media apps? Is it because the tools (depending on what this person is referring to) are free to download, use, customize, etc. because you have the source code? Also, what do they mean by not having to “link together multiple applications”? Because you still do.

For instance, if I wanted a blog combined with a portal combined with a CRM tool and all with “open source” tools, I’d have to program a connection between say Wordpress with something like Joomla and feeding in leads into a SugarCRM implementation. So, there is A LOT of work to be done to utilize social media tools to build these “applications.”

Now, all I’ve ever used is “open source” apps and tools and they’ve all required my knowledge of PHP/MySQL/Linux/Apache in order to make them work, BUT if you CAN work with these system (have the skills and knowledge) then you most certainly can pump out new tools/apps/platforms relatively quickly!

So, to answer the original question: open source has always played into every one of my business initiatives because my core focus is using the Internet to form connections (in sales, networks, biz opps, etc.) I love the fact that I can take a tool that is 80% of what I already need and then code in the remaining 20% just to create a rough version of my idea and immediately get it out there testing. It saves time, saves money, but IS NOT as easy as you would think!

So, yes, “open source” is something to be excited about, but usually for those of us that know what it is, how to work with it, and better yet how to manipulate the code to build what we really want!

]]>