A sure sign of an Open Source project’s coming of age is when advocates of commercial software start a debate in the course of which spreading FUD is only one strategy. On the other side, OS champions almost religiously defend the open approach to software development. More, depending on how you look at it, it’s either David vs. Goliath or Dinosaurs vs. Star Trek. A recent example of this was the panel at Meet Magento in Frankfurt (see this [intlink id="214" type="post"]short summary[/intlink] of the event). During the past couple of days I thought a lot about the motives involved and I would like to take a couple of minutes to talk about if this type of OS vs. commercial software controversy does not miss the point. For the sake of the argument, let’s pretend for a while the open/closed paradigm did not exist.
It’s all HTML
Regardless of which type of software and programming language you use to build your online store: at the end of the day all they do is produce HTML. Surely, there might be a pinch of Javascript or Flash in there, but the ultimately the goal is to give the variety of browsers out there something they can render. Naturally, the quality of the underlying HTML code can vary, but often this is the result of more or less competent template design rather the underlying software. In other words, although a shop relies on the ancient osCommerce engine, its design can be sweet as pumpkin pie. Mind you, I don’t want to start an “what is good HTML?” discussion, my point is that, regardless of what software you’re using, you more or less successfully produce browser output.
Features
Of course this is not the whole truth: One reason why Magento has been so successful especially in the last couple of months is the fact that its very structure enables designers and developers to implement feature-rich storefronts and to achieve amazing user experiences. Flexibly producing HTML code suitable for product presentation, search results and order process is one of Magento’s strengths. In this regard, Varien has considerably raised the bar for OS platforms.
Arguably though, similar features can be found in commercial software. Platforms such as Hybris or Intershop, running some of the largest ecommerce sites worldwide, have set a quasi-standard for selling product collections online in the past. In other words, when it comes to functionality, I would go so far as to say that every feature we find in a modern OS platform such as Magento is almost certainly represented by commercial software as well. A list of features, impressive as it might seem, is not the crucial difference between the worlds of open and closed software.
The real questions
From my experience, shop owners concern themselves with questions like “How much is my new web store going to cost me?” or “Does my store appeal to my audience and does it present my products in the best possible light?”. Depending on the size of the business, things like “How well can the store be integrated into my workflow and software ecosystem?”, “If I have a new idea for a feature, how long does it take for it to be adequately represented by my store’s technology?” and “If push comes to shove, who’s to blame?” also enter the equation.
If a software product – be it open or closed source – can satisfyingly answer these questions, that’s the one which will be chosen in most cases. Very straightforward. Us techies and IT people may have a debate on principles while the shop owner is already selling his products.
