OSS Commerce Melee
Ben Marks // @benmarks
ben@magento.com

In the beginning

humankind learned the value of “things”.

Most importantly,

we learned the value of exchanging things of value

Exchanging things of value is in our DNA.

Marijuana was the first* Internet transaction.
"In 1971 or 1972, Stanford students using
Arpanet accounts at Stanford University's
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory engaged
in a commercial transaction with their
counterparts at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology…
http://www.neatorama.com/2013/04/21/The-Worlds-First-E-Commerce-Transaction-Was-a-Drug-Deal/

Marijuana was the first* Internet transaction.
”…Before Amazon, before eBay, the
seminal act of e-commerce was a drug
deal.The students used the network to
quietly arrange the sale of an
undetermined amount of marijuana.”
http://www.neatorama.com/2013/04/21/The-Worlds-First-E-Commerce-Transaction-Was-a-Drug-Deal/

Fortunately, humankind’s value of exchange was
not, and is not limited to physical goods.

“Open-source software” – Christine Peterson
https://sdtimes.com/os/history-behind-term-open-source/

“Open source can propagate to fill all the nooks and crannies that people want it to fill.”
- Mitch Kapor
https://www.wired.com/2003/11/opensource/

“I think, fundamentally, open source does tend to be more stable software. It's the right way to do things.”
- LinusTorvalds
https://bazaarmodel.net/phorum/read.php?1,7899

“The strategic marketing paradigm of Open Source is a massively-parallel drunkard's walk
filtered by a Darwinistic process.”
- Bruce Perens
http://www.osadl.org/Bruce-Perens-The-Emerging-Economic-Para.bruce-perens.0.html

“massively-parallel drunkard's walk filtered by a Darwinistic process”

😂

The Story of OSS & Commerce…

…is too long to tell here.

So, a quick summary:

eComm Prehistory: Viewtron (1983)

CompuServ’s “Electronic Mall” (1984)

WWW, HTML Created (1990/91)

Netscape 1.0 released, SSL established (1994)

And then,1995.

Honorable Mention (2000): The Exchange Project, a.k.a.

TEP / osCommerce proved that OSS & ecommerce
were not just viable, but VIBRANT.

Evaluating OSS Commerce Solutions

App, Component, or Framework?

App
• Self-contained
• Owns Request
• Turnkey
• Many TPEs
Component
• Tiny App
• Complementary
App
• Highly Portable
Framework
• Complements &
Sets
Conventions
• Likely Many
TPEs

The Four Cs of Commerce Sites
Content
Catalog
Customers
Cart

The Four Cs of Commerce Sites
Content Catalog Customers Cart

The Four C’s of Commerce Sites
Content Catalog Customers Cart
• Who is managing it?
• How is it managed? (Editors, reviews, rollbacks, import, etc.)
• Where is it used?
• Are there variations based on locale?

The Four Cs of Commerce Sites
Content Catalog Customers Cart
• How many products?
• How are they grouped? (attributes, categories, sets, etc.)
• Are there attribute variants which should be presented?

The Four Cs of Commerce Sites
Content Catalog Customers Cart
• What state-dependent interaction is needed?
• Analytics
• CRM
• Wishlist

The Four Cs of Commerce Sites
Content Catalog Customers Cart
• What cart behaviors are required?
• How varied are the orders?
• Which payment vendors are needed?
• How are orders processed?

The Fifth C: Customization*

* “Commerce is always custom.”
- @benmarks, just now

Customization
• Third-party integrations (maintenance, support)
• Underlying frameworks & standards
• Test framework, Continuous Integration
• Integration to existing systems
• Speed to iterate
Custom needs determine:App, Component, or Framework

The Sixth C: Community

Community
• Core development
• Developers (agency, consultant, employees; markets)
• Long-term maintenance
• Self-service support
• Third-party integrations
• Corporate stewardship

The Seventh C: Conclusion

Conclusion
• Any approach is on the table at first
• Content-first approach puts content needs at the beginning of a
decision tree
• Ecosystem effects abound:
• Third-party extension, integration, and support
• Customizations
• Coporate backing

@benmarks
ben@magento.com