I am the founder of OpenERP / Odoo and I can't believe what I just read. Just wrote this mail to RMS, hope he will fix his post:<p>Although we do sell a service to help companies upgrade, there is also an open source tool by the Odoo Community Association to upgrade OpenERP: OpenUpgrade. [1] There is not a single dependency in OpenERP/Odoo against proprietary software or services. We have always fought about any kind of lock-in.<p>Can you fix your post? it's probably not the intention of gnu.org to make FUD against others open source project.<p>I guess you have been misinformed by Luis since he has done a lot of misinformation when he decided to fork to promote his project.<p>Having said that, you should have a look at what we do. We replace thousands of proprietary management software by Odoo, converting whole governments [2], SMEs and big companies as well as NGOs. (60% of the top 10 NGOs are run by Odoo: doctors without borders, red cross, ...)<p>[1] <a href="https://doc.therp.nl/openupgrade/" rel="nofollow">https://doc.therp.nl/openupgrade/</a>
[2] <a href="https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/portugals-annual-school-teacher-allocation-handled-open-source-erp" rel="nofollow">https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/portugals-an...</a>
<i>"upgrading to the next version of OpenERP required sending the database (full of patients' medical data) to OpenERP's server for reformatting."</i><p>"Required" is a big overstatement. OpenERP (now Odoo) is FOSS, and uses a standard Postgres database. The thing is that Odoo didn't release the migration scripts when a new version was released, but you weren't <i>required</i> to use their service; OpenUpgrade[1], a community project for implementing these scripts, is proof of that - we've successfully used it to migrate all our clients from version 6.1 to 7 to 8.<p>Disclaimer: I don't work for Odoo S.A., but I do work for a company that sells services based on the software.<p>[1] <a href="https://doc.therp.nl/openupgrade/" rel="nofollow">https://doc.therp.nl/openupgrade/</a>
When I first saw SaaSS I figured RMS had his own acronym for SaaS, and sure enough further in the article he spells it out - Service as a Software Substitute.<p>I like it!
I recently came across this situation when attempting to hack on Keepass2Android [0], a Keepass client for Android. It was written with Xamarin, which was a closed-source framework at the time. Having to download and use software with a 30-day trial to hack on an open-source project seemed wrong.<p>Now that the Xamarin SDK is open-source[1] it looks like it's moving towards being freed, which I think is a good thing. That said, I'm not sure the IDE is available on Linux yet, so I guess it's still relying on non-free software.<p>[0] <a href="https://keepass2android.codeplex.com/" rel="nofollow">https://keepass2android.codeplex.com/</a><p>[1] <a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/xamarin-now-free-in-visual-studio/" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/xamari...</a>
Leaving aside the factually inaccuracy in the example...<p>If you want to stick with 'N', you can. And you can fix it to suit your needs. If you want to convert your database, there are no barriers in your way -- and you can distribute your results. Or maybe you want N+1 to work with the old format -- either way, nothing's stopping you.<p>If you're not categorically against proprietary software, the converter may be a really good purchase; better than any of the above options. But you're not 'trapped' into buying it -- no more so than, say, GIMP 'traps' you into using photoshop by lacking non-destructive editing features.<p>The fact that the situation would be kind of lame is because for almost everyone, in practice, It's vastly more useful for your software to be actively maintained than it is for it to be 'open' -- and the developers abandon 'n' when they move on.
This article made me change my[0] business' choice from Odoo to Tryton. Thanks to RMS for pointing me/us to this better option.<p><a href="http://medicalcannab.is" rel="nofollow">http://medicalcannab.is</a>
Proprietary software companies trap you, so you utilize GPL to trap more lazy programmers? Selfish people are always selfish, lazy ones are still lazy. I don't like this model.
As usual, RMS is content to sit back and complain rather than take action to try to effect positive change.<p>Has he written any code in the last decade, or is he still going around giving the same tired speeches over and over?<p>Do his anachronistic computing habits contribute to his continued irrelevance?<p>Ubiquitous broadband connectivity has changed the world and it seems RMS is still living in the past. I hate SaaS models just as much as the next user, but I am also a realist. There's just no reason for corporations to take RMS's "ethical" route when the profits lie squarely in the other direction. Lofty academic ideals don't buy your family groceries.