Lots happening for Pixolüt in 2007.
Firstly, I would like to let you know that we will be releasing the BizBlox API on SourceForge as an Open Source project. The BizBlox Builder will remain the commercial developer product that it is, however given the existing flexible license which the BizBlox API used, we decided that it made sense to convert the API and library to an LGPL and release it to the open source community.
There are several benefits in doing this which will benefit all users and customers using BizBlox. First of all, it allows other code generation systems to be used on the BizBlox platform and not just our BizBlox Builder. Secondly, it opens our code to public scrutiny – yet allows for our continued control over the direction of the platform – allowing for a more robust and secure product. Finally, it allows access to the technology to the greater developer community and that’s always a good thing.
So what is the commercial benefit of selling the BizBlox Builder software if the most important part is free? Well, BizBlox Builder has been designed to integrate with the BizBlox library from the beginning, it comes with loads of example code in C# and VB.Net and also integrates with Visual Studio natively. We also provide enterprise support for our customers. All in all, as the director of Pixolüt and chief architect of the BizBlox ORM I feel like we have made right decision in opening the platform to the developer community and I hope many people can benefit from our research and development over the past three years.
We will have binary releases and the SubVersion repository ready for use by mid-January.
Pixolüt will also be releasing PreNIS under the LGPL as another project on SourceForge within the next couple of months and we aim to have a .Net 2.0 / VS2005 version of it ready for April.
Filed under: BizBlox, Open Source, pixolut, PreNIS
