Organic Programming

While thinking this weekend on what we are doing with our startup (Axiologic SaaS) I have just realized a  surprising fact:   having better tools and technologies will mean that the value of code will drop as the code will be cheaper to produce. What it the meaning for businesses? But for professional programmers?

Obviously, source code, like anything else, is worth exactly what one person is willing to pay for it but the first signs of a new reality are already  here:  a lot of  code  for enterprise software is available for free ( open source). It is true that lot of current open source code is quite hard to digest,costly to understand and maintain,etc etc. and that is drastically reduce the value of such code ( but it is not my main point for this post )

For  big software providers,already is true that the value is not in their source code but in their brand,selling capacity, business models and huge amounts of capital that is rolling apparently forever.  Also,I’m not talking in this post about the value of platform’s source code (like Windows, Flash Player,iOS,etc) or about the source code of the tools,  I’m talking about software dedicated to companies (CRMs,ERPs,etc).

When we started our startup we looked carefully towards open source solutions that we could offer to our customers at a reasonable price. We found some open source software with value but it is not all roses. There are some document management solutions there are good,some  open source CRMs  relatively decent (but too complex and hard to sell and deploy,train),  some open source ERPs that could work  but the cost and risks of adapting such solutions is very high  for an self-booting startup.  We already had some experience trying to build RAD frameworks and we have decided to invest our money and effort for create  better technologies that should  dramatically decrease the overall costs of creating and maintaining enterprise source code.   Huge and very risky step, but hey, so is life itself:).

In  enterprise application we can found at least 4 types of code:

• database schema modeling code (code in a DDL)
• business logic code (in rule engines,workflows or OOP code)
• user interface code
• platform/framework code (generic code that doesn’t address directly the end users needs)

My believe is that lows of physics will demand that  in the end all applications that require indefinite level of customization in order to get real and consistent business value  will be based on a very strong and customizable platform and a set of open source code (or anyway low value source code)  that will act like configuration for the platform.

The industry is already going in this direction by putting efforts toward MDA or DDD  (I’ve already mentioned in a previous post). Big ERPs and CRMs names from Microsoft or SAP  have such kind of architecture that put some customization in business rules or workflows but these solutions are not even trying to walk on the highest possible peaks. And it makes probably sense for big companies and their customers but puts walls for small and medium companies that should get the best software for their needs at a reasonable cost. Many managers or owners of small and medium companies already have skills to create Excel spreadsheets to create some proto-application for their needs. We are working for a platform to replace those poor quality applications with fully working, professionally looking and fully customizable business applications at a fraction from current software developmental costs (hopefully almost the same costs like creation of a few spreadsheets).

In the end, a nice picture with one of the highest peaks in Oriental Carpathian mountains (a peak I have just visited this weekend)

Peak Toaca,Ceahlau