osCommerce has been around since March 2000 and was originally founded by Harald Ponce de Leon. The development of osCommerce is still overseen by Harald, but has also since become the domain of a full team of dedicated people. You can read about the osCommerce team on the http://www.oscommerce.com/about/team page. At present there are about 6,000 live, registered osCommerce sites and about 70,000 registered community members. With the rising success and popularity of this remarkable piece of software, these numbers are all set to increase dramatically.
Looking at how long osCommerce has been around, it’s safe to say that there has been enough time for the technology to mature and for people to be confident that it has endured plenty of use and has been reworked and debugged to the point where it is stable and reliable. If you are not someone who is readily convinced, a visit to the osCommerce community forums at http://forums.oscommerce.com/ will demonstrate that there is a lively, active community supporting this technology—proof enough that osCommerce is working for others, and that there is the interest to push osCommerce forward in the years to come.
Quite apart from all this, it is fair enough and important to ask "Why should I use osCommerce?" at this early stage. Part of the answer to this seemingly innocuous question goes straight to the heart of an issue that has led to a massive divergence in one of the fundamental socio-economic questions surrounding modern computing.
There are two schools of thought that divide most programmers and developers firmly into two camps, which compete against each other, in some cases, quite vehemently. The issue is whether or not intellectual property (in particular, software) should be made available for everyone in the world to use, modify, and contribute to, or whether it should be protected.
It is strongly urged that you avail yourself of the facts when it comes to open source technology, if for nothing else than that it allows you to form a considered opinion about the software upon which your business relies. The following is a fairly good definition of the term Open Source:
Open Source is defined as any program whose source code is made available—most often subject to certain conditions—for use or modification by users or other developers as they deem fit.
Open source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and is freely available. For more information on what open source is, check out< http://www.opensource.org/>.
So, we know that osCommerce is an open source initiative—big deal! How does this change anything or how should it influence our decision to use it? Well, let’s look at some of the advantages of the open source paradigm and relate it to what you can expect from the overall osCommerce experience:
Totally free: It might cost you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a software development company to build you a fully functional commercial site from scratch. Not having to pay for this development removes one of the largest obstacles that retards e-commerce growth for the small to medium enterprise.
Secure and stable milestone releases: The osCommerce core has become a secure and stable environment for online commerce due of the large amount of community participation. This doesn’t mean it is impervious to attack—like any other software, it has weaknesses—but you can be sure of a swift community response to any new threats that may appear.
Large development community: osCommerce’s source code is readily available and free to modify and so there are thousands of developers who test and improve it on a daily basis. osCommerce effectively has an unlimited development team, and with the software gaining in popularity, new code will be produced at a faster rate.
Large support community: osCommerce has a large support community. This is due to the fact that the open source paradigm encourages the development of communities that feel a collective responsibility to aid others within that community.
While the above points might not seem like a big thing now, knowing that there is someone else who has perhaps struggled with the same issues that you have, and is willing to spend time to help you solve your own problems is a huge benefit that can’t really be quantified in terms of cost.
Apart from the previously listed advantages that have been automatically bestowed upon osCommerce users, it is also fair to say that this is one of the world’s truly valuable pieces of software that is leveling the playing ground between enterprises with large pockets and those with tighter budgets. This is because it empowers people to act on their ideas and bring their services and products to the world, via the medium of the World Wide Web, without being subject to high development costs. Removing obstacles in doing business stimulates growth and helps everyone in the long run. Hopefully, you will embrace the spirit of open source and encourage others to join in the future.