The April meeting of the Houston Netsquared featured guest speaker Jeff D. Frey from Rice University. Jeff shared the pros and cons of open source technology for nonprofits plus gave some recommendations to open source software, including Tendenci the open source CMS for nonprofit websites.

1. Open Source...
and Six Blind Men
Jeff Frey, Rice University
Rice Universityʼs three-part mission of “path-
breaking research, unsurpassed teaching,
and contribution to the betterment of our
world” is carried out in many different ways
by many different people.
Information technology is an integral part of
carrying out that mission, and Open Source
products have been strategically leveraged to
meet stakeholdersʻ unique needs. In this talk,
youʼll hear about some Open Source
products and how they can be leveraged by
non-profits through the eyes of six different
constituent groups.

18. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community Customers Management Employees Developers Support Staff
the people or individuals boards, people open source sometimes
following and other executive working for products, by internal to the
surrounding a organizations directors, and the nonprofit, definition, are nonprofit,
certain free or which the higher level including works in these are
open source nonprofit decision volunteers, progress; either
product is services is makers have utilize the people are designated
usually a tight affected by to know what open source needed to people or
knit group the products to do products daily make updates power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

19. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Reap the benefits of the entire user base...
! Constructive group-think
! Functions / features you need
! Even what you didnʼt know you needed
Community
! Typically active feedback mechanisms
the people or ! The community drives the future
following direction of the software / system
surrounding a
certain free or
open source The ideology is a great match for
product is nonprofits, controlled by the people it
usually a tight serves, the project is “open”
knit group
Are features similar to other products
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

20. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community
the people or
following
surrounding a
certain free or
open source
product is
usually a tight
knit group
proprietary vs. open source vs.
software as a service
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

21. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community
the people or
following
surrounding a
certain free or
open source
product is
usually a tight
knit group
proprietary vs. open source vs.
software as a service
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

22. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community
the people or
following
surrounding a
certain free or
open source
product is
usually a tight
knit group
proprietary vs. open source vs.
software as a service
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

23. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community Customers Management Employees Developers Support Staff
the people or individuals boards, people open source sometimes
following and other executive working for products, by internal to the
surrounding a organizations directors, and the nonprofit, definition, are nonprofit,
certain free or which the higher level including works in these are
open source nonprofit decision volunteers, progress; either
product is services is makers have utilize the people are designated
usually a tight affected by to know what open source needed to people or
knit group the products to do products daily make updates power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

24. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Looks really high end...
! Improved stability
! No compatibility issues
! Acts and feels normal
Customers
! Seeks and implements feedback
individuals ! No different as far as they know
and other
organizations
which the Is it different from established/known products
nonprofit
services is
affected by
the products
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

25. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Customers
individuals
and other
organizations
which the
nonprofit
services is
affected by
the products
basic office suites available via online & download
fast, full featured, and cross platform compatibility
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

26. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Customers
individuals
and other
organizations
which the
nonprofit
services is
affected by
the products
basic office suites available via online & download
fast, full featured, and cross platform compatibility
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

27. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Customers
individuals
and other
organizations
which the
nonprofit
services is
affected by
the products
basic office suites available via online & download
fast, full featured, and cross platform compatibility
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

28. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community Customers Management Employees Developers Support Staff
the people or individuals boards, people open source sometimes
following and other executive working for products, by internal to the
surrounding a organizations directors, and the nonprofit, definition, are nonprofit,
certain free or which the higher level including works in these are
open source nonprofit decision volunteers, progress; either
product is services is makers have utilize the people are designated
usually a tight affected by to know what open source needed to people or
knit group the products to do products daily make updates power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

29. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Budgeting and costs...
! no software costs
! no programmers
! potential for no
Management hardware costs
boards,
executive
Start with the least
directors, and important thing and
higher level work your way up
decision
makers have Look for hidden
to know what expenses such as
to do
training and
conversion costs
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

30. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Management
boards,
executive
directors, and
higher level
decision
makers have
to know what
to do
financial systems: some are solid, but not polished,
some web based and mature to replace quickbooks
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

31. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Management
boards,
executive
directors, and
higher level
decision
makers have
to know what
to do
financial systems: some are solid, but not polished,
some web based and mature to replace quickbooks
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

32. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Management
boards,
executive
directors, and
higher level
decision
makers have
to know what
to do
financial systems: some are solid, but not polished,
some web based and mature to replace quickbooks
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

33. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community Customers Management Employees Developers Support Staff
the people or individuals boards, people open source sometimes
following and other executive working for products, by internal to the
surrounding a organizations directors, and the nonprofit, definition, are nonprofit,
certain free or which the higher level including works in these are
open source nonprofit decision volunteers, progress; either
product is services is makers have utilize the people are designated
usually a tight affected by to know what open source needed to people or
knit group the products to do products daily make updates power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

34. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Employees
people
Seemingly robust solutions...
working for ! The community is behind it all the way
the nonprofit, ! The customers donʼt notice a difference
including
! The management thinks the costs are just right
volunteers,
utilize the
open source Potential lack of documentation and delays in
products daily getting help may lead to a lack of confidence,
a lot of time spent training, converting, and using
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

35. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Employees
people
working for
the nonprofit,
including
volunteers,
utilize the
open source
products daily
Customer Relationship Management: typically
hosted, very feature rich, lots of partners/support
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

36. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Employees
people
working for
the nonprofit,
including
volunteers,
utilize the
open source
products daily
Customer Relationship Management: typically
hosted, very feature rich, lots of partners/support
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

37. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Employees
people
working for
the nonprofit,
including
volunteers,
utilize the
open source
products daily
Customer Relationship Management: typically
hosted, very feature rich, lots of partners/support
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

38. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community Customers Management Employees Developers Support Staff
the people or individuals boards, people open source sometimes
following and other executive working for products, by internal to the
surrounding a organizations directors, and the nonprofit, definition, are nonprofit,
certain free or which the higher level including works in these are
open source nonprofit decision volunteers, progress; either
product is services is makers have utilize the people are designated
usually a tight affected by to know what open source needed to people or
knit group the products to do products daily make updates power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

39. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Still have to be a mechanic...
! The analogy is: proprietary software is like
buying a car with hood welded shut
! Open source, you can play with the engine
Developers ! Starting from scratch would be impossible
! Can customize and control what you need to
open source
products, by
definition, are
works in
progress;
people are
needed to
make updates What are the code base standards, is there a
good available API, where can you get help
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

40. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Developers
open source
products, by
definition, are
works in
progress;
people are
needed to
make updates
Web content management solutions, mostly built in
PHP and MySQL, lots of plug-ins, some more
complicated than others, mature communities
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

41. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Developers
open source
products, by
definition, are
works in
progress;
people are
needed to
make updates
Web content management solutions, mostly built in
PHP and MySQL, lots of plug-ins, some more
complicated than others, mature communities
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

42. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Developers
open source
products, by
definition, are
works in
progress;
people are
needed to
make updates
Web content management solutions, mostly built in
PHP and MySQL, lots of plug-ins, some more
complicated than others, mature communities
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

43. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Developers
open source
products, by
definition, are
works in
progress;
people are
needed to
make updates
Web content management solutions, mostly built in
PHP and MySQL, lots of plug-ins, some more
complicated than others, mature communities
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

44. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community Customers Management Employees Developers Support Staff
the people or individuals boards, people open source sometimes
following and other executive working for products, by internal to the
surrounding a organizations directors, and the nonprofit, definition, are nonprofit,
certain free or which the higher level including works in these are
open source nonprofit decision volunteers, progress; either
product is services is makers have utilize the people are designated
usually a tight affected by to know what open source needed to people or
knit group the products to do products daily make updates power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

45. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Established communities are typically advanced...
! Regular roll out schedules, versions, patches
! A network of partners and support professionals
Support Staff Are there hardware, network, back up, and
maintenance costs that have to be figured in,
sometimes
how much time is spent that could have been
internal to the
done by the help desk of purchased software
nonprofit,
these are
either
designated
people or
power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

46. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Support Staff
sometimes
internal to the
nonprofit,
these are
either
designated
people or
power users
very mature products, very large user base,
sometimes more popular than proprietary
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

47. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Support Staff
sometimes
internal to the
nonprofit,
these are
either
designated
people or
power users
very mature products, very large user base,
sometimes more popular than proprietary
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

48. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Support Staff
sometimes
internal to the
nonprofit,
these are
either
designated
people or
power users
very mature products, very large user base,
sometimes more popular than proprietary
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

49. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Support Staff
sometimes
internal to the
nonprofit,
these are
either
designated
people or
power users
very mature products, very large user base,
sometimes more popular than proprietary
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

50. !"#$%&'()*#%+%,%-#)."#*/0#.
Community Customers Management Employees Developers Support Staff
the people or individuals boards, people open source sometimes
following and other executive working for products, by internal to the
surrounding a organizations directors, and the nonprofit, definition, are nonprofit,
certain free or which the higher level including works in these are
open source nonprofit decision volunteers, progress; either
product is services is makers have utilize the people are designated
usually a tight affected by to know what open source needed to people or
knit group the products to do products daily make updates power users
“Copyright Jeffrey Daniel Frey, 2012.” Permission granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided the copyright
and author contact appears. To disseminate otherwise, to republish, or sell materials requires written permission. Contact jeffreydfrey@gmail.com.

54. Open Source...
and Six Blind Men
Jeff Frey, Rice University
713-348-5827
jdfrey@rice.edu
linkedin.com/in/jdfrey