* Broad Commercial Support For Open Source
Templates and Applications
* Apache V2 Licensing Delivers Royalty
Free Source Code
* Industry Leaders Join to Form Initial
Steering Committee
Dusseldorf, Germany 12 May, 2009: Deutsche
Notes User Group (DNUG) – OpenNTF, an open consortium of developers that
provide templates and applications for the IBM Notes and Domino Platform
announced the transformation of the OpenNTF to open source licensing and
its new governing steering committee.
OpenNTF is a development community devoted
to getting groups of individuals all over the world to collaborate on Lotus
Notes/Domino applications and release them as open source. OpenNTF
also provides a framework for the community so that open source applications
may be freely distributed, using widely accepted licensing terms. The
mission of OpenNTF is to increase the quality and quantity of templates,
applications and samples that are shared by the community. The new
bylaws and operating principles of the organization are published at http://www.OpenNTF.org.
OpenNTF provides source code building
blocks, templates, and running examples that facilitate rapid application
development for the Notes and Domino platform. By making code assets
on OpenNTF available under the Apache License V2, individuals are able
to create derivative works with worldwide re-distribution rights that are
royalty free.
The steering committee members were
chosen from thought and market leaders in the Notes and Domino development
community, with representation from the following companies: Elguji Software
LLC, IBM Corp., Lotus 911 Inc., PAVONE AG,
Prominic.NET, PSC Group LLC, SNAPPS
Consulting, Teamstudio Inc. and VinceSchuurman.com.
Industry Leaders Serving on the
OpenNTF Steering Committee:
Elguji Software, LLC
Bruce Elgort
Lotus 911 Inc.
Nathan Freeman
VinceSchuurman.com
Vince Schuurman
PAVONE AG
Ludwig Nastansky
Prominic.NET
Justin Hill
PSC Group, LLC
John Head
SNAPPS Consulting
Rob Novak
IBM Corp.
Brent Peters
Teamstudio Inc.
Scott Johnsen
As with other open source communities,
OpenNTF brings together the broad participation needed to establish, refine
and promote high-quality shared software technology. By taking advantage
of OpenNTF, software tools developers are free to focus on their domains
of expertise. OpenNTF currently has over 60,000 subscribers, with over
10,000 downloads logged monthly.
"OpenNTF has played an important
role in the success of Lotus Notes and Domino as it has provided a place
for companies to go and download world class application templates."
said Bruce Elgort, President, Elgui Software, LLC.
"As one of the OpenNTF Co-Founders I am extremely happy and
proud to see IBM's involvement with it as this helps solidify the mission
of the organization."
"OpenNTF has been the hub of the
Lotus Notes and Domino open source community for five years. With
this reorganization, we are taking that community to a new level of scope
and commitment." said Nathan T. Freeman, Director of Application
Development for Lotus 911. "Developer toolkits, best
practices standards, and most of all, high-quality usable business applications
assets will extend the power of Notes and Domino, creating tremendous immediate
value for partners and customers alike."
"OpenNTFs mission of providing
open source will enable the Notes and Domino development community to collaborate
to bring high quality applications to market quickly" said Vince
Schuurman, chair of OpenNTF.
"We have been heavily involved
in the Notes and Domino development community for more than 18 years,"
said Ludwig Nastansky, PAVONE AG, Chairman Supervisory Board.
"As a founding member of the steering committee, we are committed
to ensuring that developers have the templates, tools and applications
they need to bring solutions into the market quickly."
"As the Notes and Domino development
community grows, open source templates and applications provide developers
with the best practices and code that they need to get solutions out the
door quickly.," said Justin Hill, CTO of Prominic.NET Inc.
"We are pleased to be taking a leadership position with OpenNTF and
to host the OpenNTF web site."
"Notes and Domino have always been
a platform where applications can be quickly developed and deployed - the
distribution and a collaborative community development space is what has
been missing" said John Head, Director of Enterprise Collaboration
of PSC Group LLC and OpenNTF steering committee member. "As
the original hosting provider for OpenNTF, PSC has always been a supporter
of the application platform that Notes and Domino provides. We look forward
to helping OpenNTF grow to becoming the heart of the Lotus development
community."
"We've long been proponents of
giving away valuable examples and templates to further the Lotus brand."
said Rob Novak, President of SNAPPS. "With OpenNTF,
it’s now much easier for organizations to take something that works and
modify it for their own use. I am proud to serve as a founding member of
the OpenNTF steering committee."
“Open source isn’t limited to
individuals and rogue Lotus Notes/Domino developers anymore”, said Scott
Johnsen, Vice President of Marketing and Alliances at Teamstudio.
“The development and management of Lotus Notes/Domino applications can
benefit from fresh ideas, and some of the best innovation can be found
within the core Lotus Notes/Domino community.”