The beauty of open-source software is that it is open and available to the public, meaning anyone can inspect, modify or enhance the basic design.
The Open Source Initiative defines open source as software that provides free access to the source code to users and developers.
To be considered open-source, it must:
Here at GMCVO Databases we love CiviCRM and the community contributed extensions. They provide a great way to extend your installation to take advantage of useful functions others have developed. Here are my 3 favourite extensions that I keep coming back to when doing an install. Which are your favourites?
Although October may sound far away, planning is already underway for the annual London CiviCON. And there's not just the conference, but lots of ways you can get involved with the community this year.
Learn more about CiviCRM to get the most from your installation
UK user groups are an informal way to meet others from the community, find out about CiviCRM and learn more. There are demonstrations, discussions and the chance to meet other people involved in the community. We aim to make them as useful and user led as possible.
The North of England UK user group is held once a quarter and in December we will be holding 2 meetups; one in Manchester and one in Leeds.
We all know CiviCRM provides a lot of power and usability "out-of-the-box". But it's only got where it is because of hours of hard work from the core team, other developers and end users pitching in the funds to make it happen.
It’s easy to forget when you’re working with CiviCRM, sat at a computer tapping information in, or extracting data out, that you are part of an international network of voluntary/ charity/ not-for-profit organisations all using the software to support your work.
Coming up are two opportunities to meet up with the wider network of other CiviCRM users, administrators, implementers and developers who make up the international community who come together to create, develop and extend the Contact Management software.