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SplendidCRM has created what it says is the ideal "compile once, run everywhere" cross-platform application with its release of SplendidCRM 1.2 for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Server 2003 and SplendidCRM 1.1 for Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10.
The company used Novell's Mono open source toolset to leverage Microsoft's .NET tools, according to president Paul Rony. "It is the same binary that you would install on Windows," he told CRM Buyer. "It copies on Linux and then it runs."
Single Code Base
This is what many in the industry had hoped Java would do when it was first released, Rony said. "The reality was, though, that it never could. Every system was different and required its own tweak."
SplendidCRM, though, has managed to achieve this, Rony said. "We can compile our application on Windows, copy it to a Linux installation that supports Mono, and run it."
It is not commonly understood that Mono can support copy deployment, according to Miguel de Icaza, vice president in charge of Mono at Novell. "Beyond allowing a single code base, copy deployment will allow [SplendidCRM] to ship a single set of binaries," he said.
SplendidCRM is released under the SugarCRM public license, which is built on a Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) stack. SplendidCRM opted to use Microsoft's technology stack in the design of its own product, Rony said.
"We decided [SugarCRM] was great idea and design, but we prefer the Microsoft technology stack. In general, when you pick a technology, you make compromises. We picked C#, which is generally not considered a cross-platform language." The Mono tool, though, rectified that, he added.
"We have focused on Novell Suse Linux, but Mono should run on Red Hat, Solaris or on the Mac," he said.
Free Runtime
SplendidCRM has also announced the availability of a free Runtime License to hosting companies that license SplendidCRM Professional. "We're trying to encourage hosting companies to adopt our product for the vertical markets that they already serve," Rony explained.
"Since we are targeting hosting providers, our gut has told us that there are a lot of hosting companies that are using Linux as their primary technology for hosting Web sites," he said, citing figures that suggest the presence of Linux is higher for such companies.
"Our goal is to provide a cost-effective platform for hosting providers to integrate CRM into the vertical markets that they already serve."
SplendidCRM provides live demos of its software running on SQL Server, Oracle, DB2 and MySQL. A live demo of SplendidCRM running on Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 has been made available at SplendidCRM's Web site.
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