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Alfresco Takes Aim at Microsoft with Open Source Sharepoint Alternative
Apparently, Alfresco is the first ECM vendor to take advantage of the Sharepoint protocol availability. I spoke to Alfresco CEO John Powell about the significance of this announcement. |
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Comments (10)
This is how you beat Microsoft, by duplicating their tools in FOSS. Sharepoint is a big winner for Microsoft, it integrates so much of their Office and server product, and in doing so locks out similar Products. Being able to fully integrate FOSS products in this way is a great lever.
Way to go - I didn't see any mention of price but hopefully the alfresco folks don't make the mistake that some firms with similar ideas have made, i.e. offering a replacement for a microsoft product that is unfortunately more expensive than the microsoft product it hopes to replace.
Assuming the price is favorable, I'll be very interested in seeing if I can push this in my workplace, where sharepoint buzz is in the air, but it has not yet become entrenched.
Assuming the price is favorable, I'll be very interested in seeing if I can push this in my workplace, where sharepoint buzz is in the air, but it has not yet become entrenched.
Quoting:offering a replacement for a microsoft product that is unfortunately more expensive than the microsoft product it hopes to replaceOr offering a replacement for a Microsoft product that duplicates all functionality, including bugs.
I've installed and used Sharepoint 2003. It's a pain to configure, especially with third-party modules or other web services on the same server. The site templates aren't that great outside of a brochure and the interface is slow, although the web parts are convenient for idiots to waste time configuring their personal page instead of getting work done. After screwing around with it's clumsy web and badly integrated explorer view interfaces, and it's primitive and insecure document management system (no file locking? WTF?) on a couple of projects, the company I was with switched to Perforce version control which was a lot more useful. They did use Sharepoint a bit for tech support because they had custom products for each client with separate portals but the clients hardly ever used it. They didn't want to spend all day on our portal for collaborative development and support as they had more important things to do that didn't involve us. Most requested application changes and software updates via email. Any BBS would accomplished the same with less overhead. Of course with Firefox it didn't work any better.
I haven't tried 2007 yet so I don't know if they fixed some of the stupid problems but I simply don't have a need for it's functionality. I've also never used it for workflow or forms processing as the overhead is not justifiable for a small company, nor have I used Lotus Notes which I guess would be the closest competitor.
It's another Microsoft application that solves every perceived enterprise document management problem in the most bloated and mediocre way possible, with a matching price and licensing scheme.
I haven't tried 2007 yet so I don't know if they fixed some of the stupid problems but I simply don't have a need for it's functionality. I've also never used it for workflow or forms processing as the overhead is not justifiable for a small company, nor have I used Lotus Notes which I guess would be the closest competitor.
It's another Microsoft application that solves every perceived enterprise document management problem in the most bloated and mediocre way possible, with a matching price and licensing scheme.
Quoting: It's another Microsoft application that solves every perceived enterprise document management problem in the most bloated and mediocre way possible, with a matching price and licensing scheme.
Doesn't matter, Microsoft types like my boss still recommend it, a competitive product that does the same or better, will be hard to argue against, and this one supports Linux.
@tracyanne:
Have you considered going up a level or ten?
Have you considered going up a level or ten?
huh?
Over your boss's head, if that's an option. Are there other decision-makers in the company that might be more willing to listen to reason?
Quoting:Are there other decision-makers in the company that might be more willing to listen to reason?
Umm no. There is only my boss. I could go to his wife, I suppose that's going over his head. Seriously this is a very small company, with a lot of influence in certain sectors. I don't get to make recommendations to the clients, except covertly and in very small ways, I have a couple of clients using Firefox, for preference (so they can use FireFTP) and one using Open Office.org, for preference.
> Doesn't matter, Microsoft types like my boss still recommend it,
Yeah. My employer has decided to roll out Office 2007 with Sharepoint and replace our working Notes installation with Outlook/Exchange. I'm waiting for the first virus to hit once they do. It won't be pretty. Oh well, it pays the bills.
Hmm, cut and paste error corrected. That'll teach me to comment that early in the morning.
Yeah. My employer has decided to roll out Office 2007 with Sharepoint and replace our working Notes installation with Outlook/Exchange. I'm waiting for the first virus to hit once they do. It won't be pretty. Oh well, it pays the bills.
Hmm, cut and paste error corrected. That'll teach me to comment that early in the morning.
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