The LIMS was developed by Bika Lab Systems and local Plone/Zope gurus on open source components, ensuring the system was within reach of small to medium-sized laboratories.

Open source is a natural route for software: "Some people make a decision to 'use' open source. We never decided to use it; open source was what we used in our very first experiments.

"The greatest thing about those first experiments was that there were really bright people behind the source that were willing to share their ideas and help you. Nothing changed, they're still as helpful and they are still very bright."

The team plans to release the web application on a GPL basis later in the year, says sales and marketing manager, Joris Goudriaan.

"You'll be able to download the source and compiled code from our website. Additionally we are in the process of setting up a community site where you'll have the FAQs, wish lists, future plans and even software development bounties," says Goudriaan.

"No matter how big your development team, if your software is open source and you can rely on contributions from the open source community, the growth of your product can be exponential," he said.

"We also believe that open source offers a unique opportunity to market and distribute our software across the globe without making use of conventional marketing tools."

Project manager at Bika Lab Systems, Lemoene Smit, says their commitment to open source extends past the availability of the software and upgrades. "We are planning further initiatives to assist non profit outfits to acquire Bika installations -- there are plenty deserving cases in the African medical sector for instance. To get the resources of an educational institute behind the project will be great."

The Plone CMS suited the project as the developers were able to use its existing functionality such as groupware tools and workflow, logging, security and internationalisation, according to the development team.

But is Plone really the best? "Standards compliance and cross-platform, multi-browser support means that Plone remains attractive even after a long hot day on the web," says Goudriaan.

Compaan has a simpler, cheekier answer: "It's the best CMS around because it is developed in Python!" adding in those famous last words: "Most developers will agree."

--To view the original Article on Tectonic, click here