Have you published the whole KB in GXOpen?
We've made some cuts. For instance, the
invoice report that it prints according to the specifications of a given client,
has not been published because it had the name of the client, etc. All of the
system modules and characteristics have been published; we only left out the
really customized stuff.
How many objects does it have?
Between 800 and 1,000 objects, and between 250 and 300 tables. This
knowledge base required a lot of work on my part, but as in everything, there is
still room for improvement. I started developing it with GeneXus in 1996, based
on my previous knowledge on the pharmacy business.
What are the technical characteristics of LibreFarm?
It has been developed with a previous GeneXus
version (GeneXus 6.1 patch 5), which was a carefully thought-out decision. We
have always wanted to work on the Linux platform because it provides higher
security and versatility. I made some technical options like working with
GeneXus, and working with the GeneXus Xbase generator, which is considered to be
obsolete by the GeneXus community, although I believe this is unfair. I consider
that there are cases in which it can be applied without a problem. I found that
if I use an Xbase compiler under Linux, I have a 100%-GNU Linux production
environment, and this is what I sell to clients: the installation of all those
terminals, the server, and the possibility of interconnecting branches using the
Linux technology. The application works in that environment. We charge for this
service. Its implementation requires a lot of work, and this is why we charge
for it. In addition, when we install a program, we also provide related
services, such as network-related services, consulting, customer support
(explanations on how things work, help the client adapt to the system and vice
versa, etc). Then, the client calls us and that's when we need to offer a
service that justifies, from an economic perspective, why a customer should pay
for our consulting services. This is part of our business, and we want to get
more out of that line of work. I think that from now on -after the publication
of the KB- more service opportunities will arise, different kinds of service -
some of them might be premium services. We might also witness growth in the
number of companies providing more types of service.
So, a person can take the KB and propose a technological
upgrade to the product and also to the clients...
Yes. And I think it is a good idea. The KB has been published
under a license. All software is compliant to copyright law, which in itself
forbids use, copy and modification, etc. In general, there are some restrictions
on the use of proprietary products: there is a specific number of computers that
you can use; there are specific purposes for which it can be used, depending on
the country or the number of users. This KB has been published under the GPL
license (General Public License), which is a legal document that certifies that
you can use it for anything, including modifying and copying it...
And selling it too...
Yes. The license specifies that you may charge for distribution, that
is, for saving it in a CD and distributing it. But how much will they pay you,
if it is already available on the Internet? If you do not offer any added value,
it is not worth it. Because if a person downloads it from the Internet, but
they are not specialists, they will need to have someone else install it, put
it together, etc. This is the kind of service I was telling you about
earlier.
I will tell you what happens if somebody decides
to upgrade the software and resell it. When you improve free software, you
improve your copy. And if you do not go back and consolidate it with the
previous KB, you leave the base KB behind. You split it up. If time goes by and
you keep on adding modifications to the software, without consolidating it with
the base Kb, you will end up having two different products. This is a problem
because if we succeed in gathering a community around LibreFarm, and we manage
to keep the community relatively united, somebody who decides to get out of the
community will have to remain updated on what the community does. Keeping two
separate projects at the same time is quite complex. It can be done, but it is
very complex.
According to the GPL license, if I integrate other software
into a product licensed as GPL, the integrated code becomes free software.
Is this correct?
Yes. The
license states that if you save a
free software program and a copyright program in a CD, you may impose restrictions on the
use of the copyright program, and clarify that the free software program may
be copied. If, apart from that, you put a copyright program and a free software
program together -or in the case of GeneXus, two KBs are consolidated- the
union becomes so powerful that the license will necessarily have to embrace everything
else. This does not mean that you are trying to adopt a copyright that
does not belong to you or that you will license something that belongs to another
person in a way that they do not want to. If the other party does not want
this to happen, then the union should not be so strong. This is an option in
the hands of the person who chooses free software in order to upgrade copyright
software.
I can make my proprietary software work with
free software; for instance, sharing a database -not a knowledge base- will not
affect the copyright license. But if I add both programs and I turn them into a
single one, sharing the data structures at the execution level with the
programs' internal structures will necessarily extend the GPL license to the
other program or will make the other program remain under a license compatible
with the GPL, non-restrictive of the liberties offered by the GPL.
Why did you choose GXOpen to publish the KB?
Because it is a site that Nicolás Jodal
(ARTech's Vice President) founded with a lot of vision. Unfortunately, so far I
hadn't been able to contribute with any project. So this is our contribution to
GXOpen (http://www.gxopen.com). We are fully
aware that it is a very good idea for the GeneXus community. Up to now, the
projects in GXOpen have not offered a specific license under which software
could be used. KB owners would be doing a great favor by licensing the software
under GPO or BSD. Moreover, GXOpen has had such a level of exposure among users
that we know it is the best place for us to publish the KB. GXOpen provides
visibility. Besides, programmers do not see the LibreFarm project as something
chic; it is something that is going to be used for work. This generates an
opportunity for working on a large, free project, inside the GeneXus community.
Free
software has provided many things for us -Linux, the Web Apache
server, etc. This is a way to contribute to everything that we have received from
free software, given that we have been able to configure businesses by
installing other people's software. From now on, we will also be able to
do it using our own free software. Besides, it is a way for people in the free
software community to get to know GeneXus. After all, the tool is needed in
order to work with LibreFarm.
Published in
GXOpen: Pharmacy Business Management project
http://www.gxopen.com/main/hproject.aspx?257