SplendidCRM Releases Version 5.0 Community Edition under AGPLv3

[splendidcrm]

SplendidCRM Software has followed SugarCRM's lead by adopting the GNU Affero General Public License Version 3 (AGPLv3) for its Community Edition. Although it may seem strange to post this announcement on the SugarCRM forums, our goal here is to catch the attention of the internal SugarCRM developers. This is our first public release that includes the full set of SQL source code, so we thought that it would be a good opportunity to point out something that we believe we do better.

Although SugarCRM and SplendidCRM are very similar in features and appearance, they are two vastly different applications. Whereas SugarCRM tends to keep its data and configuration in PHP files, SplendidCRM tends to keep its data and configuration in data tables inside the database. Both methods have their strengths and their weaknesses, and I'm sure that developers on both camps would extol the virtues of their design until they are blue in the face.

The one requirement that both products share is the need to upgrade any previous version of the database to the current version of the database. This is an area where the Splendid approach seems better. Instead of have separate upgrade files from each prior version to the current, we find it to be much easier to create a single upgrade file that will do everything necessary to upgrade from any prior version. Is it really necessary to create all of the following:

SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.1 to 6.1.0.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 6.0.x to 6.1.0.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 6.1.0RC1 to 6.1.0.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.0 to 6.0.3.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.1 to 6.0.3.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 6.0.0RC1 to 6.0.0.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 6.0.x to 6.0.3.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.1 to 5.5.4.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.2 to 5.5.4.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.3 to 5.5.4.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.2.0 to 5.5.1.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.0 to 5.5.1.zip
SugarCE Upgrade 5.5.1RC to 5.5.1.zip

We encourage the SugarCRM developers to take a look at our SQL Scripts folder to see how we manage 150 tables, 46 functions, 385 views, 593 procedures and hundreds of data files. We logically separate the content of each SQL file and we use a Build.bat file to create a single Build.sql file that can be used to upgrade any previous version to the current database schema.

Paul Rony
SplendidCRM Software, Inc.

[agcopley]

Windows only right?
It kind of defeats the purpose if you are then tied into proprietary Windows platforms.
Perhaps if you released a cross-platform version.

[splendidcrm]

Isn't the whole point behind open-source software to give the developer a choice? Those that prefer PHP will certainly select SugarCRM. Those that prefer C#, or a language syntax similar to C++ or Java, will likely select SplendidCRM.

SplendidCRM 4.x Community Edition can run under Linux, so the choice is between PHP or C#. As for our latest 5.0 release, we expect to be testing on Linux in Q1 2011.

Now that SplendidCRM has been released under AGPL, we can put the proprietary argument to rest.

Paul Rony
SplendidCRM Software, Inc.

[agcopley]

Of course releasing software only on a proprietary platform is Hobsons choice but given that you are planiing to release Splendid on an open platform shows you understand this. Waving the Affero flag is nice but not everything.

[splendidcrm]

SugarCRM runs on Windows and Linux, SplendidCRM runs on Windows and Linux. Sugar is AGPL, Splendid is AGPL. What more does Sugar do that Splendid does not do such that Sugar qualifies as "everything" and Splendid does not?

Also, I must admit that the use of Affero is not entirely friendly, but it makes sense for us to use the same license for SplendidCRM. The Mono folks release their library using multiple licenses, including the MIT license, which in my book counts as being significantly more friendly.

Paul Rony
SplendidCRM Software, Inc.