Filed under: Blogging, Productivity, Open Source, Social Software
BitNami makes installing popular open source packages easy as pie
One of the main issues with open source software that people have (and a reason they don't use it) is that it's hard to install and configure. There is a new project called BitNami that is trying to take the sting out of the open source adoption process. They bundle many popular Open Source software packages into a 1-click setup file. Theoretically, all a user has to do it download the package of their choice and copy it on to their system or web host.
There are some very hard-hitting packages to chose from including WordPress blogging software, phpBB bulletin board software, Drupal CMS, and MediaWiki, among others.
To check out their packages. Head over to BitNami.org and download the application you are interested in. You will probably have to FTP the packages up to your web host. More detailed instructions can be found on BitNami.org.
The BitNami project is looking to add new packages to their site and are taking suggestions. One app on their list that excites us in particular is SugarCRM, an immensely popular Customer Relations Management application.
We say "way to go!" to the BitNami project and hope this radical step will broaden the user base and drive more people to utilize these fantastic tools.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bakeshow said 9:00PM on 12-21-2007
how is this different than rpath or jumpbox? and why are any of them better than just using fantastico? i guess i don't get it. thx.
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Daniel said 7:28AM on 12-22-2007
Fantastico is oriented towards hosting providers and ISPs. BitNami is targeted toward users who want to run those applications in house (or in their laptop) and do not have the resources. Unlike Virtual Machine solutions like rPath and JumpBox, we run natively and integrate with the operating system itself. That means significantly less download size and more efficient use of resources (do you really want to use 512Mb of RAM just to run a wiki???) plus is what users expect. Everybody knows how to, say, install Skype: download and click-click-click your way to "installation finished". With Bitnami, that is the same. For virtual machine-based solutions, you first need to have the virtualization application already in place (which many people do not)
Doug said 9:35AM on 12-22-2007
DreamHost provides web masters with one click installs of a variety of web based apps; you pick the app and the one click interface helps you set up everything from any required dbs, to admin users, to the url for the app at your site - very clean, very neat, and pretty easy to use (not for the total noob, but then again, if you have a domain, you're probably not a total noob)
BitNami does look really nice for local installs, less work to get a specific app up and running; very nice.
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