The new edition includes "Web Script" technology that provides access to enterprise content, metadata, user interface components and queries using a URL interface. Web Scripts enable web sites, portals, blogs, applications and Microsoft Office to access or "mashup" enterprise content without the need for integration tools and complex programming. (press release)
The release of Community Edition 2.1 by Alfresco is relevant to the ECM community for several reasons, key among these the new plateau of functionality reached by Alfresco. This lends further credence to the observations made by myself and Dan Keldsen (blog) that Enterprise 2.0 is a concept whose time has come, that is being supported by many technology players, with a recent successful trade show dedicated to it (Enterprise 2.0 in Boston, June 2007).
But the real "alert" associated with this announcement is the continued momentum Alfresco is making in expanding the functionality of its open source alternative to ECM products such as EMC Documentum (where many of the team at Alfresco came from) and OpenText. If Alfresco successfully continues its effort, how long will it be until they exert the same type of pressure on the ECM market, as Google et. al. have had on e-mail, file sharing etc., as discussed in the aiimALERT: AOL settles: Web 2.0 – Free and Clear, and Keldsen's post Google Acquires Postini – Do No Evil.
With this, I cannot help but recall a presentation I gave several years ago to state and local government IT folk. As typical for me, I was pushing the envelope and getting the audience to examine innovative ways to use ECM, to radically change the way government does business. Near the end of the presentation someone in the audience asked "This is all very interesting. For many of us, as small government offices, the IT budget is close to nothing. Are there open source alternatives we can be looking at to achieve these results?" At that time, my answer was less than enthusiastic. Today, options are available and increasing – as costs (upfront and in implementation) continue to decline.
