History: Business Models
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Table of contents
Tiki is a free source software project and community. You don't have to pay anything to anyone to use Tiki or to participate to the project. Tiki, as a project, doesn't offer any commercial services. However, many members of the community do so.
Here are some examples.
Tiki Services
Hosting
While you can run Tiki on your personal computer (Windows, MacOSX or Linux), chances are, you want it to be accessible on the Internet. Thus, you need to pick a web host.
Standard shared hosting
Tiki is designed to run on typical shared hosting (PHP/MySQL). You are responsible to install and upgrade Tiki. Many of them even offer to help you with this via the Control Panel.
This covers the needs of the vast majority.
Advanced hosting
If your site has quite a bit of volume or otherwise, some special needs, you may want to get a VPS or dedicated hosting. In addition to being responsible to install & upgrade Tiki, you are also typically responsible for the general system maintenance. (upgrade PHP, MySQL, etc).
In this case, you may want to hire a sysadmin to handle this and to optimize the server to make use of the advanced features like:
While Tiki is easy to host, there are various open source projects (with which Tiki interacts) that require a more advanced setup.
- http://bigbluebutton.org/ Chat/Voice/video/Screen sharing
- http://mapserver.org/ Maps
- http://kaltura.org/ Collaborative video editing
Server farm
As of 2010-04, there are no readily available server farms for Tiki. Please see: WikiFarm. From the point of view of a Hosting company, Tiki offers several benefits.
http://tikiwiki.org/SWOT#SaaS_Hosted_solutions_Wikifarm_D_
Support, configuration & training
The Tiki community tries to make the admin interface as easy as possible to use. There is extensive documentation and a getting started guide. However, as with any powerful tool, there is a learning curve. You may want to hire someone who has extensive experience with Tiki to point you in the right direction.
Installation & upgrades
You could do it yourself. But since this is something you'll only do once, you may want someone to do it for you or walk you through it.
Initial configuration and setup
Typically, there is a long discussion about
- what the project is about
- what Tiki can do
Then, Tiki is setup to the corresponding needs. If you are doing something which could be useful for others, please consider making a Profile
Ongoing support
As your project grows, there will be times where you are wondering
- Is this a bug? or did I just misconfigure?
- How should I deal with situation X
Design
Tiki has quite a few bundled themes. However, many want to have their Tiki "skinned"
http://themes.tikiwiki.org
Nice sites
Setup related services
While Tiki is the Open Source Web Application with the most built-in features, it also offers easy Interaction with various web services. Ex.: Google AdWords
You may want to get some help to pick the services, create accounts, and setup within Tiki.
Programming
Tiki is free software. You get a lot for nothing. However, when you want feature enhancements or bug fixes, you may want to get some help.
As part of the model, Tiki has major releases twice per year. Make sure you or your developers contributes back! This is the nice thing to do and it avoids that you have to maintain your customizations at each release.
Data migration & integration
- If you start from scratch, you will likely find that Tiki has everything you need. However, in some cases, you may have to deal with legacy data.
So you'll need some custom code (glueware) between Tiki and your legacy systems. You could also want some data migration.
You may also require some help to configure External Authentication
Tiki-based solutions
A clearly-defined project
An RFO or RFT for a Web project is sent out. They usually don't impose a technology. So web shops can prepare a bid with Tiki as the technology.
Vertical markets
Some community members can specialize in using & configuring Tiki as a Vertical market software
http://profiles.tikiwiki.org/Vertical_Markets
http://nelsonko.com/2008/09/14/vertical-solutions-based-on-tikiwiki-an-opportunity-for-open-source-entrepreneurs-and-consultants/
To power a Web or service
So you have a Web project? A social networking site? A community? A WikiFarm? By using Tiki, your development speed will be much faster.
Make sure you or your developers contributes back! This is the nice thing to do and it avoids that you have to maintain your customization at each release.
You want to offer Tiki services?
Make it known!
- Make your website describing your services
- Add yourself here: http://info.tikiwiki.org/Consultants
- Join the various Networks
Related links
- model
- SWOT
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open_source_software
- http://guide.flossmetrics.org/index.php/6._FLOSS-based_business_models
- http://producingoss.com/en/money.html