SplendidCRM

Infobox Company
company_name=SplendidCRM
company_type=Private
foundation=North Carolina 2005
location=Raleigh, North Carolina
industry=CRM Software
products= SplendidCRM Open Source, SplendidCRM Professional
num_employees= undisclosed
developer = Paul Rony and contributors
latest_release_version = 2.1
latest_release_date = April, 2008
operating_system = ASP.NET / Microsoft Windows
genre = Customer Relationship Management
homepage= [http://www.splendidcrm.com/ www.splendidcrm.com]

SplendidCRM produces open source Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software developed in C# for the ASP.NET framework. The product is available in two editions - Open Source and Professional - the main difference between the two products is the inclusion of stored procedures and source code for a MS Outlook 2003/2007 plug-in in the Professional edition.

History

SplendidCRM, inc was founded in Novemenber 2005 by Paul Rony. The project began as an experiment to test the effectiveness of the Microsoft .NET development environment at porting an application from the LAMP (software bundle) to the Microsoft ASP.NET framework. It was soon noted that there were few initiatives at the time dedicated to promoting Open Source and ASP.NET from a CRM perspective and SplendidCRM rapidly gained a following in the .NET developer community [ [http://www.technewsworld.com/story/48474.html Technology News: Enterprise Apps: SplendidCRM Set to Mount Challenge in Open-Source CRM Space ] ] . The project is a featured community project on the official ASP.NET website [ [http://www.asp.net/community/projects/ Starter Kits and Community Projects : The Official Microsoft ASP.NET Site ] ] SplendidCRM adopted the LAMP based SugarCRM Open Source as the blueprint on which to initially model its ASP.NET application. The application is compatible with and uses SugarCRM assets such as icons and terminology packs. However the actual source code that makes up the application is completely original [1] . SplendidCRM complies with the terms of the Sugar Public License 1.1.3. SplendidCRM first appeared on Codeplex on 28 June 2006 [ [http://www.codeplex.com/SplendidCRM/stats/view SplendidCRM ] ] and has been downloaded in excess of 4000 times, however this does not include the volume of downloads directly from the SplendidCRM corporate website. SplendidCRM is based on but is not a competitor of SugarCRM. SplendidCRM targets the Microsoft-centric small business sector where Microsoft CRM is too expensive and complex to implement [ [http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=5F711956-BAAD-45F2-A07E-D24167D806C3 SplendidCRM marries open source with Microsoft tech stack - Computer Business Review ] ] . SplendidCRM are really taking on Microsoft CRM with Microsoft's own tools [ [http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/open_source/2007/04/talking_with_splendidcrm.php Talking with SplendidCRM - Open Source Software Up the Stack - ebizQ ] ] .

Product

SplendidCRM is an open-source customer relationship management framework built in the Microsoft .NET environment. The product can be deployed in a variety of scenarios including Software-as-a-service [ [http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/feature/22363 IT Manager's Journal :: Open source SplendidCRM a sweet alternative for ".Net-centric" SAAS provider ] ] .

Licensing

SplendidCRM is one of the new breed of Microsoft based open-source projects [ [http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2144741,00.asp eWeek ] ] . It is unusual because at present it features a developer based licensing model for its professional edition, which means that system integrators wishing to adopt SplendidCRM only need to pay for the number of software developers working on their project - rather than the number of ultimate end users. [ [http://www.crm2day.com/news/crm/121819.php SplendidCRM Offers Comprehensive, Easy-To-Use Open-Source CRM Solution To Enterprise System Integrators ] ] . However, companies that adopt SplendidCRM for internal use must adhere to the per user fee for all their users. SugarCRM has now been released under the GPLv3, although when the port was made SugarCRM was licensed under its own Sugar Public License 1.1.3 (SPL). Following critiscm from the Open Source Initiative [http://opensource.org/node/163 Will The Real Open Source CRM Please Stand Up?] SugarCRM decided to adopt the GPLv3 to license its community edition or open source product on July 25 2007. [ [http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=62AED6AA-BAA3-4A9E-9A8B-0E4C72B3A3E4 SugarCRM adopts GPLv3 for Community Edition - Computer Business Review ] ] . The SPL is a license that was derived from the Mozilla Public License, and as such is a file-based license; the move to GPLv3 by SugarCRM is seen to be a positive step by their developer community, and consequently also benefits the developers of ported solutions such as SplendidCRM. SplendidCRM complied with the SPL, and was only able to sell a Professional Version because the Database Views and Stored Procedures (SPs) were developed completely independently of SugarCRM. These are not available in the current Open Source version of Splendid – developers need to buy the license to gain access to these. The move by SugarCRM to GPLv3 means that once SplendidCRM have also moved to GPLv3, ASP.NET developers will be able to use SplendidCRM as a framework for developing their own products and solutions without the restrictions previously experienced under the SPL.

See also

* Sugarcrm
* Vtiger CRM, an open source fork of SugarCRM
* Web application

External links

* [http://www.codeplex.com/SplendidCRM SplendidCRM on CodePlex]
* [http://www.splendidcrm.com Official website]

References