Why PHP?

We’re users and lovers of PHP. We’re unabashed about it, but it’s based on some serious business logic and customer feedback, not just geeky emotion.

It’s not just our opinion, first off. The popularity of the PHP scripting language and development community has been well-documented. Evans Data estimates there are somewhere around 5 million PHP programmers in the world--about 10 times the number of programmers using traditional iSeries tools--compared to about 6.4 million .NET programmers and 5.8 million Java programmers. Moreover, the number of PHP programmers is growing faster than the other two languages.

PHP is, incidentally, open source. For Lumenation and building your own custom apps in our environment, that means there’s no vendor lock-in. PHP is portable and runs on Linux, Windows, i5, OS X, Free BSD, Solaris… and probably any other OS you’re working with. Build your app here, take it somewhere else later. Not a problem. Think you’re going to hear that from Salesforce.com?

PHP is also simple. It’s popular at least partially because you don’t have to be a hard-core programmer. Many web developers use and love PHP. There are an estimated 23 - 25 million Internet domains using PHP, or a bit less than one-third of the Web's total. I hate it when someone uses the backwards logic that something is good cause it’s popular, but, in this case, that’s a lot of people freely choosing it over other options.

It’s really fast, and when utilized with the Lumenation Z-Windows AJAX Engine, it scales big time… What’s not to like?

So, next time someone invites you to try their development environment, pay attention to the language they’re hawking. PHP might be the right language for you and your custom app.

Top 5 Reasons Why Microsoft's Silverlight has no Silver Lining

Traditional on-site software companies are doing their best to make some of their products -- or parts of their products -- on-demand. Microsoft's "software-plus-services" strategy straddles on-site and on-demand and ends up with a solution only fit for companies with deep pockets and a deep love of the Redmond-based software giant. Their latest announcements are around Silverlight, “a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.”

Smaller companies have better alternatives. Why pay all that money to Microsoft and wait until they get it right? Using the combination of PHP and Ajax is a popular way to design applications that run inside a web browser. PHP/Ajax applications are much more responsive and interactive.

Here’s my Top 5 Reasons Why Small- to Medium-Sized Companies (SMBs) don’t need Silverlight.

1. Silverlight is still in beta. You can fight over who invented Ajax, but Google Maps and other AJAX-enabled sites have been in production since at least 2004. Can your business afford to wait?

2. Silverlight depnds on Javascript and supports Python and Ruby. Why leave out PHP? Evans Data estimates there are somewhere around 5 million PHP programmers in the world. Moreover, the number of PHP programmers is growing faster than .NET and Java.

3. JavaScript is inconsistent across browsers in both API's and performance. Depending on JavaScript to power Silverlight is a mistake.

4. Silverlight works in IE, Safari, Firefox. Support for Linux and Opera is missing, with little prospect of support coming from Microsoft. Zend’s co-founder Andi Gutmans sums it up nicely: "… the reason [AJAX is] popular is because it interoperates well with any browser and operating system. The market wants something that runs everywhere - the mainframe, on Linux, on Power." (Okay, full disclosure here. Our own Lumenation works in IE and Firefox only, so far. Still, it's fair to criticize a company that has the resources to cover all the various browsers but chooses not to.)

5. Microsoft has no plans to open source Silverlight.

An open source take on proprietary SaaS development approaches used by Salesforce.com or Microsoft’s OfficeLive

NetworkWorld picked up on our open source SaaS portal. "Lumen gives open source some SaaS" They quote the same information we like to talk about surrounding the growing use of PHP and interest in SaaS:

> Lumen says it is going after a critical mass of
> PHP developers — over 5 million worldwide —
> and burgeoning demand for SaaS; it cites an IDC
> survey, where 15% of SMBs said they’re considering
> a move to SaaS.

Lumen Software Launches Commercial Open Source SaaS Portal

OK, I promise this blog won't be a spot where we just dump all our press releases. But we're coming out with information on our open source SaaS portal for the first time. It's big news. The full release is included here.

Lumen Software Launches Commercial Open Source SaaS Portal
Open and free Lumenation SaaS development platform fulfills needs neglected by infrastructure giants

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, April 4, 2007 – Lumen Software, a leading provider of commercial open source Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and portal solutions, today announced its flagship platform, Lumenation, and the Lumenation Software Development Kit (SDK), are available immediately for free download. The products give PHP and AJAX developers a way to rapidly build, deploy, manage, and sell SaaS applications.

Lumen’s SaaS platform is in use by more than 200 commercial customers with over 150,000 users of on-demand applications. Lumen’s focus on the world’s 5 million PHP developers validates the work of industry pioneers SugarCRM, developers of a large CRM application written in PHP, and Zend, creators of the world’s most popular PHP application platform. Lumenation is the industry’s first PHP platform to focus on SaaS developers, making PHP an effective alternative to proprietary SaaS development platforms such as Saleforce’s AppSpace and Microsoft’s Live Core.

“Lumenation is a superior alternative to proprietary SaaS development languages because the product’s flexibility and openness make development of web-based on- demand applications quick and inexpensive,” said Doug Clark, Managing Partner at RDClark Associates, a Kansas City based independent systems integrator. “Lumenation is easy to customize for people with very basic programming skills. I can easily make a profit for my business by selling commercial Lumenation applications and customization services to smaller sized companies or workgroups within larger organizations.” In March, market analyst firm IDC released a survey of over 1,000 small- to medium- sized businesses, in which between five and 15 percent said they were considering adopting a SaaS solution in the next 12 months.

But Jeff Kaplan, managing director at THINKstrategies, a SaaS consultancy that looks at the level of interest in SaaS among organizations of all sizes, said his research indicated much higher levels of interest. "Our surveys have found that more than 30 percent of organizations are already taking advantage of SaaS alternatives and another 43 percent are considering SaaS options," stated Jeffrey M. Kaplan, managing director at THINKstrategies, a strategic consulting company and also the founder of the SaaS Showplace. "Many businesses and programmers will find the low cost and flexibility of the Lumenation open development environment an attractive platform for more fully leveraging the business benefits of their SaaS solutions."

“Due to the cost-effective open source infrastructure of Lumenation, a new group of smaller businesses can now get customized SaaS and web-portal applications quickly and at a reasonable cost,“ said Tad Gordon, CEO of Lumen Software. “Unlike Salesforce.com and other big vendors that are pushing vendor-specific languages and charging both vendors and customers upfront and recurring fees, Lumen is offering businesses and developers a straightforward and practical alternative: use Lumenation, get the benefits of PHP, Linux, Apache, and pay for commercial SaaS applications only when you need them.”

The Lumenation portal is based on the familiar “desktop” metaphor, and the Lumenation SDK empowers developers of all levels, from expert to novice, to quickly create and deploy new enterprise-class applications according to their business needs.

Key features and functionality include:
• Automated installer for Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL and PHP infrastructure stack;
• Freely available and fully functional Lumenation SaaS application server and
Lumenation SDK;
• Advanced managed web-desktop metaphor with graphical drag and drop, click
and launch, functionality for any application or file;
• Available as a software application that runs in the datacenter or as a hosted
SaaS portal.

Hundreds of commercial applications are already available for the Lumenation portal.

Examples include:
• Small Business Retail Management Suite;
• Help Desk Management System;
• Content Management System;
• Student Information Management System;
• Enterprise Portal;
• Online File Management System.

Pricing and Availability
Lumenation and the Lumenation SDK are immediately available for free download at http://www.lumensoftware.com . Support and professional service contracts are available directly from Lumen Software. Commercial applications can be purchased based either on a perpetual license or a monthly subscription.

About Lumen Software
Lumen Software develops and sells open source and commercial SaaS and web portal software. With over 150,000 installed users and an active community, Lumen’s flagship product Lumenation is leading the way for 5 million PHP developers to rapidly deploy SaaS and portal applications. Built on top of Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL and PHP (LAPP), Lumenation is freely available for download and unlimited use. Commercial modules are also available for sale to small and medium sized businesses as well as ISP’s and ASP’s that want to further reduce development and deployment time. Founded in 1999, Lumen Software is headquartered in Kansas City and is online at http://www.lumensoftware.com .

Getting the scoop on Lumen

Hey, C|Net scooped our release set for tomorrow! "Lumen Software makes way for 'LAPP' stack" Here's a partial quote:

> Lumen Software is expected to release a toolkit on Wednesday for
> building hosted applications using the "LAPP" stack, consisting of
> Linux, the Apache Web server, PostgreSQL database and the PHP
> scripting language.

Also, InfoWorld blogged about open source Saas. "Lumen: Open source SaaS" I particularly liked Matt Asay's distinction between truly "wedding" open source and SaaS versus just stealing from open source:

> Most interesting of all, however, is how Lumen and others will wed
> open source with SaaS. Not the "wedding" that consists of lots of
> Web 2.0 companies pilfering open source and giving nothing back
> (or comparatively nothing). But true SaaS companies also existing
> as true open source companies. Lumen seems to be doing this well
> today. It's the exception.