I just got off the phone with a VP at MPower. I wrote them an email after hearing the news that they've done something that no one else in the industry has had the guts to do yet. They've "open sourced" their fund raising software called MPX. I say it is a gutsy move because it requires a drastically new approach to almost everything they do, but it appears they have managed to convince the VP level, at least, that this is a good idea and I agree. I had some reservations with their exact implementation, but overall I'm excited to see the move. The real name of their game is flexibility. They recognize that in order to succeed in this business where each org has very different needs, they must be infinitely flexible. Open source ideals bring them this flexibility like nothing else can.

For those not associated with open source, it is basically the idea that a community of people who need software can do a better job of solving problems then each individual on their own. (That's really basic, but will suffice for now.) The way folks make money off this is through providing optional support around the solution (software) that is built. The company that takes the lead in the community of software makers is clearly going to know it well and is better suited to provide assistance, guidance and customized support than anyone else. They know the program best. It is a proven business model as demonstrated by the likes of Apache, Jabber and MySQL.

Always a Skeptic

As always, there are reasons to be skeptical when something this big happens. One has to wonder, is this a last ditch effort before going bankrupt and dropping out of the market entirely? My inner cynic drives me to finding the truth and I'm glad I did. I'm convinced that these guys really believe that this is the best direction for their software in the future. The more I study the more I'm convinced that their relatively new CTO, Leo D'Angelo has managed to create a huge shift in the company's perspective with the help of outside counselors who have caught the vision and in some cases taken the opportunity to invest in the idea.

The License

I'm about to get technical, so forgive me. This is for my open source geek friends. They are releasing their software under a modified Apache 2 license. I haven't seen the license myself, but I understand that it sets limits on how the software can be distributed. This may mean, it is not OSI-compliant, but I'm hoping that they will submit it for approval.

Contributions

They will accept contributions to the code from outside sources. As I understand, they will have official and non-official contributions. Official ones they will maintain and non-official one will be recognize by them, but will be maintained by the community. Then their will be the 3rd-party stuff that will not be connected with MPower at all. This seems pretty normal for an open source project.

The Future Code Base

I was excited to hear that they are working on a database abstraction layer. That is certain to be a lot of work for something previously connected tightly to MS SQL, but in the future, MPX will be able to run on Oracle, MySQL, Postgre and others.

It also sounds like they will be porting the code over to the Linux platform. Seeing as this is an ASP.net product (If I understand correctly), this is also bound to be a major effort, if not a rewrite, of the software. I must admit this makes me salivate a bit though. ;-)

Crystal Reports and MS SQL, at first, will need to be purchased separately. I understand Crystal Reports will be phased out as a requirement, opening the door for greater flexibility in this area. It should be interesting to see what this holds.

MPX has in the past encouraged the use of Sage's accounting software for non-profits. However, they have the code to integrate with various other accounting packages. Opening their code to the community will create the opportunities for greater development in this area.

Community around MPX

One of the greatest strengths of open-source software is the community. I really enjoy involvement in a few open source communities and they make working with software much smoother because of the flattening approach. I get access to talk with developers and other people who use the software regularly to ask questions, kick around ideas and the like.

Official Community

This is one area where I'm a bit disappointed in the current MPower direction. The MPower-based community will be restricted to paying customers. At best, this shrinks the potential community size and at worst it could be their down fall. I've seen in the communities that I've been involved in that the smaller the community the less useful it is and the smaller pool of interested developers you have to work with. In order for the community, and thereby the objectives of the community, to really blossom as many minds as possible need to interact. By closing this community, I think less people will be likely to dip their toe in the water to try it out which is likely to lead to less people actually going for a swim. I see it as a wall to adoption that might prevent the growth they need to complete the full transition they need to make. I sure hope that doesn't happen.

Unofficial Community

The good news is that they seem to be open to the idea of outside communities forming to support the software. This would be unofficial groups of people and organizations who would provide the more traditional perspective on open source community. Even if we're paying, I'll be looking for groups like this to pop up. I think they facilitate inventive thought and exploration that is exciting to watch. This rarely happens on the companies dime, but rather on some guys couch while he's watching an episode of Stargate SG1 for the 10th time and thinking about how he wishes people would work together to help non-profits succeed.

Another thing I like about unofficial communities like this is that information just seems to flow more freely. I like to know when a bug is known by someone else, but the company hasn't released an official announcement or if there is an undocumented feature that fits my needs.

Similarly Focused Software

Other mission-based non-profit open-source software is available. It's pretty slim and can sometimes be hard to find. Check out Centrallix and Kardia if you want to see a suite of programs that are filling some similar needs. They are developed by my friends at LightSys. Software developers might also be interested in the Christian Open Development Network.

Corrections

Since I'm in no way connected with the company aside from supporting a legacy system that was developed by a company they purchased, I very well may have my details wrong. I encourage any corrections to what I've said and I'll send a link to this over to the VP I received much of this information from. Please comment below with corrections and I'll attempt to mark errors in this entry. My motivation in writing this is to ignite the flow of information about what is going on. I want to see more companies step out bravely like this and I'd like to see MPower rewarded for their efforts in breaking new ground.