Open Source Technology

At Salsa we specialise in the use of Open Source technology to deliver robust, powerful and cost efficient web solutions. Over the past 5 or so years, open source software has progressed from being perceived as alternative products, to one of the leading edge ways of producing quality applications. Large companies use open source products such as Joomla and OSCommerce to deliver incredibly powerful functionality.

Salsa believes Open Source software is the way of the future, and has built particular expertise in the L.A.M.P framework (Linux Apache MySQL, PHP). The following applications are based on this framework, and are the basis of the hundreds of sites Salsa has been involved in designing and constructing.

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Open Source Consultants

Many ask what is open source software? In approximately 1998, a range of software engineers came together to advocate that the words free software should be updated and referred to as open source software (OSS). They felt this would be less confusing for the average software development manager and IT practitioner. The corporate world would also find it more acceptible. Open source software, supported by open source consultants refers to software which open source experts and software developers may want to publish under an open source software license such as the GNU Public License (GPL), or Common Public License (CPL), so that anybody may update that software or understand how it works. The Joomla and CRE Loaded and osCommerce and Code Igniter frameworks are all modern, prominent examples of this style of software development model using the PHP programming language.

Open source software licenses such as the GPL (which covers products like Joomla, or CRE Loaded, osCommerce & Code Igniter) allow anyone to make an updated version of the software, migrate it to a new operating system, or change the CPU or processor which the software runs with.   Open Source Software such as Joomla, or CRE Loaded, osCommerce & Code Igniter, has the goal of being more easily understood, and updatable by others improving reliability, simplicity and the quality of the software and more recently, being commercially viable for using in business and the corporate IT environment.

The Open Source Definition, notably, presents a opensource philosophical statement and sets our the parameters of usage of the opensource software such as Joomla, or CRE Loaded, osCommerce and Code Igniter. It also cover issues such as how the opensource software is used, how it is modified and what restrictions on redistribution of the opensource software exist. Software licenses are restrictions on the usage of opensource software which give rights to users   which may be normally prevented by traditional copyright law.   The FSF (free software foundation) created its own version of copyright, named copyleft which covers the principles under which opensource software can be used and distributed. Several open-source software licenses are recognised under the Open Source Definition. The most commonly cited and used is the GNU General Public License (GPL) which covers Joomla, or CRE Loaded, osCommerce & Code Igniter, and updated versions of this the GPL2 and GPL3. Open source software consultants and open source experts espouse the benefits of this approach to software development, and the benefits of make the source code of a product publicly accessible. Open source consultants and open source experts often mention benefits such as allowing authors to control how access to their source code is controlled. Open source consultants and open source experts often believe that the term "open source" came out of a strategy session in Palo Alto in reaction to Netscape's January 1998 announcement of a source code release for Netscape Navigator (as Mozilla).

Those credited with attending that session included Todd Anderson, Larry Augustin, John Hall, Sam Ockman, Christine Peterson and Eric S. Raymond. Eric S Raymond later became a key spokesperson for open source specialists and the industry with the authoring of his philosophical text on the subject "The Cathedral and the Bazaar".   The 'open source' movement which includes open source consultants, and open source experts is generally thought to have begun with this strategy session. Many claim that the birth of the Internet in 1969 started the open source movement. The Free Software Foundation (FSF), a group of open source specialists, started by Richard Stallman in approximately 1985 created a definition of free ("free as in free speech") in relation to software and distinguished this from the more commonly understood definition of free software ("free as in free beer") with a focus on the freedom to distribute the open source software rather than a negative freedom from cost. Open Source Initiative (OSI) Logo is a logo used by open source specialists and product developers when referring to software covered by the definitions set out by the OSI.   The Open Source Initiative (OSI) was formed in February 1998 by Eric S. Raymond and Bruce Perens, and later aggregrated a large group of open source specialists and industry experts.

In the late 90s, the OSI presented the 'open source' case to commercial businesses, like Netscape, IBM, Novell and others. The OSI aimed for the usage of the label "open source," to eliminate ambiguity about the purpose of this software and its usage by open source specialists, consultants, and experts, and general developers and users alike particularly for individuals who perceive "free software" as anti-commercial. Bruce Perens tried to register a trademark against the words "open source" as a service mark for the OSI, but that attempt failed under USA and international trademark laws of the time.   Eric S Raymond's presentation to the upper management at Netscape triggered the release of Netscape Navigator source code as open source, with favorable results.