Open Source Software and Its Communities Continue to Thrive

Not that I have a general problem with commercial software, I am happy to see that numerous open source software communities and initiatives continue to thrive. Yes, there exists many die hard fans of open source software, just as there are some who think it is the bane of the software world. I happen to sit somewhere in between - I can appreciate both. And I use both.

Lately, I have done more with using open source software, in part because several of Kinaba's projects center around using and tweaking a number of open source products. Frankly, I've really been enjoying testing and getting to know some open source software products, much of my current focus being on CMS (content management systems) and eCommerce scripts and products.

In fact, I finally got around to taking a closer look at Ubercart, an eCommerce module designed to work with Drupal. Drupal being one of my favorite (if not my actual #1 favorite) Content Management Systems, it is somewhat ironic that I hadn't spent much time with Ubercart in the past. Most likely it is because I've had my favorites with eCommerce products.

Calling Ubercart "a module" doesn't seem quite accurate, either, since it is a collection of quite a few modules. It also required me to import around a dozen other modules that were needed for Ubercart to function when I test Ubertcart on a fresh Drupal install. So far, I've enjoyed what I've seen, but I'm reserving my full opinion until I put it through more rigorous testing.

Development of Ubercart, which is still technically not out of Beta release, seems to be pretty active, even if it doesn't appear that much work has been done on porting it over to the new version of Drupal. Yes, there is a new version of Drupal that was released recently. Drupal 6 appears to be quite promising, having undergone a significant re-write and oodles of changes - something I'll try to post about in the near future.

In the meantime, for additional reading on Ubercart and how it stacks up against an earlier eCommerce module for Drupal or stand alone eCommerce platforms like osCommerce, you might start with the article "Ubercart: An alternative to the osCommerce shopping cart and Drupal's e-Commerce module" over at CMSReport.com.