Open Source doing well in the slowdown. As always
Sailing rough water. How toStarting second quarter 2018, LIMS enquiries sharply declined at Bika, to be unblurred when the global slowdown hit the headlines. By then Bika was well through reshaping, talking to the hardest hit - only Cannabis was doing well.
Good coders remained expensive throughout in a market mobile and global. To keep costing realistic, we now differentiate between global rates and those sourced locally in Southern Africa, where much Bika experience stays clustered, By paying experienced local coders global rates, they can chill in Cape Town too. Locally, Bika differentiates costing between, among other tasks, Installation, Configuration, User Support and Training, using market driven rates. Labs may choose to increment these where budgets allow, including site visits if applicable. Or take more on themselves. In all events, laboratories pay only for actual service hours consumed, and sharp hard working labs are rewarded. 'Nuff said, it took a while but Q1 2019 Bika enquiries are stronger than at any time before, the FOSS juggernaut continues. Everywhere indiscriminatelyIn sunset industries, some enterprises took it bad. In an unique case we convinced a corporate laboratory to go full FOSS, on low spec Ubuntu laptops and Chrome, more often recommended in resource poor health care settings, but was shot down by officialdom at the last moment, using a corporate 'Microsoft only' policy... The Big Reset has startedBut for totalitarian exceptions, in the same period, across the globe, many legislative and roots movements against dishonest business practices and inequality grew more forceful. In South Africa, many state owned enterprises took heavy losses in a text book 'state capture' op, criminal business people buying the prosecution authorities, then associate greedy 'first-world' bed mates to rubber stamp acquisitions through treasury. Nauseating KPMG, McKinsey, Bellingham Potter, adios. Like elsewhere, the Internet played its role in opening things up. On the Commission of Enquiry roundabouts though, government tenders are becoming accessible now, the horizon shifting ever closer.
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In your face solutions presents More MuchnessIt is difficult to see proprietary LIMS compete when client prospects are well informed, more so in the light of Bika's continually improving · Performance · Wealth of discipline specific configuration data Professional FOSS services are every bit as expensive as proprietary suppliers', but are in most cases of higher quality, with free community support thrown in. Service provision is the only revenue stream for Open Source vendors - there is no license income or client lock-in. Add constant public scrutiny, and they they have to be good, or fail. For Clearly LessAll things equal, the FOSS model - bazaar vs proprietary cathedral - passes inherent savings on to clients. Conservatively estimated, 30% mainly made up from:
· No new code is merged sans automated unit tests · Enthusiastic early adopters, often experienced Bika users, provide highly appreciated user testing and bug reports on new work
· FOSS sells virally via dynamic followers, everybody works to improve their system, free users, paying clients and coders, professional and tinkerers · The dynamics of which, combined with vast online knowledge vaults, contribute to high web rankings
To attract new programmers and users, code is managed with maintainability in mind and · Strictly release managed per style guide criteria · Documented
· Complied from community contributions and forum texts |
FOSS LIMS for Big OrganisationsThe Serviced based FOSS model works particularly well in organisations with multiple, near to semi identical labs interfaced with ERP, both government or commercial. After having implemented at a primary lab, it is easy
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to clone Bika installations and configurations, license free to subsequent labs, using in-house training from experienced gained at the first lab.
Re Big Easy
