“Open source and free software proponents have long played up
the parallels between their community-based development model and
the scientific community’s own experimental and theoretical
discovery processes, especially in regard to the issues of open
publication and peer review. Ferber, who has spent time in both
camps, is quick to back up such comparisons. “The two cultures are
very similar in many ways,” he says….”
“Untamed territory” is a good way to describe Ferber’s latest
venture. OpenSales is attempting to jump start its own open
source project in situ, rather than latching onto a pre-existing
volunteer-driven project as companies in the Linux and Apache
fields have done.“
“OpenSales is also attempting to plant the flag of its project,
dubbed OpenMerchant, in the e-commerce applications realmm — an
area considered well beyond the pale of current open source
viability. Until OpenMerchant, the only other major open source
e-commerce tool on the Net had been the MiniVend online shopping
cart program created by Mike Heins. “