Contact Information: Contact info: Terpin Communications for Oxid eSales Xenia von Wedel (415) 595-2030
OXID eSales Goes Open Source
OXID Turns to Open Source to Expand Global Presence
| Source: OXID eSales
FREIBURG, GERMANY--(Marketwire - November 3, 2008) - OXID eSales, a leading European software
etailer, today announced the release of the source code for its flagship
eSales product, OXID eShop PE4, to the
Open Source world to create a new Community Edition. The new Community
Edition, OXID eShop CE, will offer the identical software to the latest
release of OXID's proprietary professional edition, OXID PE 4.0, providing
a fully functional out-of-the-box software solution for companies looking
to build an online shop. The Community Edition is available for free
download immediately under the GNU Public License version three (GPLv3).
"Open Source entrants gained traction in the etailer market albeit with
inferior solutions. We felt that by Open Sourcing the core of OXID's
software we could offer the highest quality Open Source eShop available and
lead the new growing market sector," explained OXID CEO Roland Fesenmayr.
"We successfully restructured the company to take full advantage of the
benefits of Open Source development and distribution, as well as to guard
against some of the risks the new business model brings along. We firmly
believe that Open Source is the most effective way to expand our presence
in the global marketplace."
"Moving forward, we have big plans for the new company and the new
community, but we appreciate the scale of the changes we are making and we
find it critical to take one step at a time," elaborated Roland Fesenmayr.
"At this stage we simply want people to download and try the software,
experience the power of OXID CE and ideally join OXID's Open Source
community."
As OXID eSales AG has streamlined its internal development process to take
full advantage of the rapid pace of innovation and faster product cycles it
expects as an Open Source solution. Furthermore, OXID has begun adopting a
similar business model to some of the most successful corporate-backed Open
Source projects. Throughout all of these changes, OXID will continue to
offer its software under proprietary license for customers and partners who
prefer this option, and will offer a supplemented Enterprise Edition, OXID
EE, with enhanced scalability, manageability, multi-site functionality and
enterprise-grade support options.
Based on the popular LAMP software stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP),
OXID has a clean, clear, modular architecture that is well suited to the
Open Source development model. Changes to the core software kernel will
remain under the control of OXID, with the company moderating suggestions
from its community for improvements and bug solutions. Developers can
create modules to extend the product and develop new add-on functionality,
with the option to have these quality checked and certified by OXID. Under
the dual-license model, partners will be able to sell these certified and
non-certified modules as proprietary add-ons to the OXID eShop PE or
distribute them under the GPL as add-ons for the OXID eShop CE Open Source
version.
As a key part of the move forward as an international Open Source solution,
OXID has developed an English-language forum as the focal point for its new
Open Source community. The forum will include an area for members of the
community to upload and share new modules or extensions that they create on
top of the core product. It will also include community discussion boards
for kernel development and trouble-shooting. OXID has trained technical
staff on the forums and intends to play a key role in nurturing the new
Open Source community.
About OXID
OXID eSales AG provides the most commercially proven, Open Source online
shopping software solution available, backed by a flexible range of support
and licensing options, Software as a service (SaaS) offerings and
additional Enterprise Features. OXID provides a simpler, faster and cleaner
eShop software solution than anything previously available under an Open
Source license. The company is committed to a commercial Open Source
development model based on delivering unrivalled value to its community,
responding fast to capturing the value it receives in return and innovating
even faster to deliver value added products and services around the core
offering. For more information, please go to www.oxid-esales.com.
OXID is a registered trademark of OXID AG. All other trademarks and/or
registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.