Printer Friendly Version

Commercial wiki vendor SocialText has released an open source version of its corporate wiki product, letting any interested developers freely download, use, and write code for the product. Nearly identical to the company's professional wiki tool, the open source version isn't crippled in any way, offering the same features as the original.

If you're still new to the term, a wiki is a collaborative Web site that is the work of many authors. A wiki allows anyone with a Web browser to contribute, edit, or change the content of the wiki. It's the ultimate in collaboration, because it allows visitors to change originally posted material as well as add their own.

The idea of giving away a product might seem odd, but SocialText thinks it has little to lose and much to gain. The commercial product is a hosted solution, and SocialText feels that enterprise customers will still choose a hosted application, rather than one they download themselves. Also, the open source version doesn't include technical help. The company is based in California's Bay Area, and employees 29 people there and around the world.

In return for offering the wiki for free, SocialText hopes to spur interest in the product. The more developers work with the open source version, the more useful improvements will come out of the process.

Developers upload their tweaks back to the company, which then makes them available for further download. Some of the creations could make it into the commercial release, strengthening it for paid users.

SocialText went open source on the first day of the O'Reilly Open Source Convention in late July.

Go to page: 1 2

Printer Friendly Version