SMSPost: My first open source project

For quite some time now I have been working on developing a "native mobile application" on Android platform. Finally I have mustered the courage to publish the source code as an open source project.

Details:
Name of the Project: SMS Post
Source Code: https://code.google.com/p/smspost/
High-level Functional Requirements: Reads SMS from any android device and posts the content to a predefined website
License: GNU GPL v3

In coming days, I would share my learning from the project.
Please leave a comment, if you would like to contribute to the project.

Three reasons to bet on 'Android'

The humongous success of ‘iPhone’ has done enough to redefine the utility of ‘Smartphones’. While enterprise and consumers alike are betting big on future of mobile computing, it’s natural to expect fierce competition in the mobile software platform space. While veterans like Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Blackberry have already cornered a good deal of the mobile software market, the new generation platforms such as Android, iPhone (Cocoa), Brew and host of other Linux based platforms are beginning to challenge the old order. As enterprises moving towards mobile application development, the big question remains, which platform to bet on..

 Here are 3 reasons why I would bet on Android over other worthy competitors

1.      Open Handset Alliance – Android is backed by the heavyweights of the industry such as Google, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, China Mobile and NTT Docomo..to name a few. The backing of Open Handset Alliance (OHA) will certainly raise the entry barrier for any future competition

2.      Technical advantages – Open source, programming Java on Eclipse plugin (iPhone needs Objective C!!! on XCode IDE), can be developed on win/mac/Linux, runs natively (Blackberry needs special JVM). Along with the OS, you get host of other mobile applications such as an email client, SMS program, calendar and map applications..as bonus!   

3.      Positioning of Android – Shrewd marketing strategists as they are, Google is positioning Android in two parallel markets. With it’s leverage in OHA, there is a constant push for Android adoption by big players in both mobile handset manufacturing as well as mobile Operators. At the same time, as open source platform, it’s targeting consumer ‘first’. Eventually, when Android phones come to enterprise, it would come as consumer-purchased rather than enterprise-issued. On a related note, Google might extend Android to be a desktop OS..if and when such an event happens, the possibilities of cross platform application development would be huge..

All said and done, Android phones are yet to be launched in large scale (Currently being used exclusively on T-Mobile G1). The real test would come with it's application on more high-end phones in the hands of highly demanding consumers. However, as things stand, the future looks promising for Android.

Open Source Content Management systems

Off-late, I have been scouting in Open source community to find tools which can be useful in my organization. Yesterday, my colleague mentioned that his team is looking for an alternative to our enterprise CMS. That encouraged me to focus on CMS this time, just so as to make my efforts worthwhile. 

Here are my findings..

Open Source based CMS are achieving popularity because of the increased maturity of these products. This is evident from the fact that the commercial CMS solutions are feature rich but a typical small or medium size enterprise needs barely 20-30% of these features.

The market trend suggest high adoption rate in Europe & USA. APAC adoption trend shows improvement. Specific to the Industry domains, Media & Entertainment, Retail & Govt domains have very high rate of adoption. Manufacturing & BFS have moderate rate of adoption.

Here are some notable Open source CMS
- Alfresco
- OpenCMS
- Apache Lenya
- Hippo CMS

Here is a comparative study of these tools. Source CMS Matrix

System Requirements Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Application Server Most J2EE Application Servers. See: http://alfresco.com/services/support/stacks/ 4 or more built-in (none required) Tomcat, JBoss, Resin 3, Websphere 6 Approximate Cost $15,000 or $20,000/CPU/year (depending on SLA). Also per user pricing through Red Hat Exchange Free Database Most Hibernate supported DB's. See: http://alfresco.com/services/support/stacks/ Any MySQL, PostGreSQL, Oracle, MSSQL Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, DB2, AS400 and HSQL License GPL + FLOSS Exception Apache-style Apache-style GNU LGPL Operating System Most common OS's. See:http://alfresco.com/services/support/stacks/ Any Any Any Programming Language Java with support for JavaScript and Freemarker Java/XML/XSLT/Javascript/JSP Java Java 1.4. + Root Access No Yes Yes No Shell Access No Yes Yes No Web Server Any (Can depend on applicatoin server) Any Any IIS, Apache Security Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Audit Trail Yes Yes Yes Yes Captcha No No No Yes Content Approval Yes Yes Yes Yes Email Verification No No No No Granular Privileges Yes Yes Yes Yes Kerberos Authentication Yes No No No LDAP Authentication Yes Yes Yes Costs Extra Login History Yes Yes No Yes NIS Authentication No No No No NTLM Authentication Yes Yes Yes No Pluggable Authentication Yes Yes Limited Costs Extra Problem Notification Yes Yes No Yes Sandbox Yes Yes Yes Yes Session Management Limited Yes No No SMB Authentication Yes Yes No No SSL Compatible Yes Yes Yes Yes SSL Logins Limited Yes No Yes SSL Pages No Yes No Yes Versioning Yes Yes Yes Yes Support Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Certification Program Yes No Yes No Code Skeletons Yes Yes No Commercial Manuals Yes No Yes Yes Commercial Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Commercial Training Yes Yes Yes Yes Developer Community Yes Yes Yes Yes Online Help Yes Yes Yes Yes Pluggable API Yes Yes Yes Yes Professional Hosting Yes Yes Yes Limited Professional Services Yes Yes Yes Yes Public Forum Yes Yes No Yes Public Mailing List No Yes Yes Yes Test Framework Yes No Yes Third-Party Developers Yes Yes Yes Yes Users Conference Yes Yes No Yes Ease of Use Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Drag-N-Drop Content Limited No No Limited Email To Discussion Yes No No No Friendly URLs Yes Yes Yes Yes Image Resizing Yes No No Yes Macro Language Yes No No No Mass Upload Yes No Yes Yes Prototyping Yes No No No Server Page Language Yes Yes Yes Yes Site Setup Wizard Limited No Spell Checker Free Add On No Yes Free Add On Style Wizard No No No Subscriptions No No Yes Costs Extra Template Language Yes Yes No Yes UI Levels Yes Yes Yes Yes Undo Yes Yes Yes Yes WYSIWYG Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Zip Archives Yes No Limited Performance Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Advanced Caching Yes Yes Yes Yes Database Replication Yes No Costs Extra Costs Extra Load Balancing Yes Yes Yes Costs Extra Page Caching Limited Yes Yes Yes Static Content Export Yes Yes Costs Extra Yes Management Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Advertising Management No No No No Asset Management Yes Yes Yes Yes Clipboard Yes Yes No No Content Scheduling Yes Yes Yes Yes Content Staging Yes Yes Yes Limited Inline Administration No Yes Yes Limited Online Administration Yes Yes Yes Yes Package Deployment Yes Yes Yes Limited Sub-sites / Roots Yes Yes Yes Yes Themes / Skins Yes No No No Trash Yes Yes Yes Yes Web Statistics No Yes No No Web-based Style/Template Management Yes No No Limited Web-based Translation Management Yes No Yes No Workflow Engine Yes Yes Yes Free Add On Interoperability Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Content Syndication (RSS) Yes Yes Yes Costs Extra FTP Support Yes No No No iCal No No UTF-8 Support Yes Yes Yes Yes WAI Compliant Yes No Yes Limited WebDAV Support Yes Yes Yes Yes XHTML Compliant Yes Yes Yes Yes Flexibility Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms CGI-mode Support No No No No Content Reuse Yes Yes Yes Yes Extensible User Profiles Yes No Yes Yes Interface Localization Yes Yes Yes Yes Metadata Yes Yes Yes Yes Multi-lingual Content Yes Yes Yes Yes Multi-lingual Content Integration Yes No Yes Yes Multi-Site Deployment Yes Yes Yes Yes URL Rewriting Yes Yes Yes Yes Built-in Applications Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Blog No Yes Costs Extra No Chat No No No No Classifieds No No Costs Extra No Contact Management No No Costs Extra No Data Entry No No Costs Extra No Database Reports No No No Costs Extra Discussion / Forum Yes No Costs Extra Free Add On Document Management Yes No Costs Extra No Events Calendar Yes No Costs Extra Free Add On Events Management No Costs Extra No Expense Reports No No No No FAQ Management Yes No Costs Extra Free Add On File Distribution Yes No Costs Extra No Graphs and Charts No No Costs Extra No Groupware Yes No No No Guest Book No No Costs Extra No Help Desk / Bug Reporting No No No No HTTP Proxy No Yes Yes No In/Out Board No No Costs Extra No Job Postings No No Costs Extra Costs Extra Link Management Yes No Yes Yes Mail Form No No Costs Extra Yes Matrix No Costs Extra No My Page / Dashboard Yes No Costs Extra No Newsletter No No Costs Extra Free Add On Photo Gallery Yes No Costs Extra Yes Polls No No Costs Extra Free Add On Product Management No No Costs Extra Costs Extra Project Tracking No No Costs Extra No Search Engine Yes Yes Yes Yes Site Map Limited No Yes Yes Stock Quotes No Costs Extra No Surveys No No Costs Extra Free Add On Syndicated Content (RSS) No Yes Yes Free Add On Tests / Quizzes No No Costs Extra No Time Tracking No No Costs Extra No User Contributions Limited No Yes Limited Weather No No No Web Services Front End Yes No Costs Extra No Wiki Free Add On No No No Commerce Alfresco Apache Lenya Hippo CMS OpenCms Affiliate Tracking No No No No Inventory Management No No No No Pluggable Payments Free Add On No No No Pluggable Shipping Free Add On No No No Pluggable Tax Free Add On No No No Point of Sale Free Add On No No No Shopping Cart Free Add On No Costs Extra Free Add On Subscriptions No No No No Wish Lists No No No No