Don Klaiss, Compiere's New CEO

In case you missed the press release, I wanted to spend a few minutes on the blog talking about  Compiere's new CEO, Don Klaiss. Don just spent the last 15 years running Oracle's application business, and he has a wealth of knowledge and many years of experience in the enterprise software space. 

This is a great change for Compiere.  Jorg will be moving into the CTO position giving him more time to focus on the product, while Don takes over the management of the company.  As Compiere continued to grow, we realized that it was time to further divide the executive management duties within the company as we grew past the point where our two founders were able to run all aspects of the company.  This change will allow us to spend more time focusing on product improvements while also focusing on growth of the business by attracting new partners and new enterprise customers.

We are happy to have Don Klaiss join Compiere, and you can find more details about this recent change in the press release.

Comments

[Allan Howard]

Whilst I appreciate the ongoing dialog about restructuring, as a current customer operating in research mode I would like to know where the board is planning to take Compiere before I make any further commitments to a Compiere ERP.

I am disturbed by the number of forks from Compiere, including the latest called Adempiere and the reasons that those forks have taken place .. in most cases of forks the community option is the safest choice (e.g. Joomla vs Mambo).

I would therefore respectfully ask as a customer to be publicly better informed as to future plans and progress towards those aims.

Specifically as a customer who is wanting to sponsor additional functionality into the product I want to know how this will be handled.

The announcement of a new CEO does not give cause for comfort when there is no information on this person's views of Open Source.

I also want to know the planned role of the open source community in Compiere.

Please provide some demonstration that Compiere is going to be a full supporter in the true sense of Open Source.

[Dawn Foster]

Since the question about our new CEO's views on open source and plans for the future of Compiere was such a big topic, we decided to post the response as a main topic on the blog.

You can find Don's response here http://blog.compiere.com/2007/03/will_compiere_r.html

[Allan Howard]

Thank you Dawn & Don,

I would like to express my appreciation of this additional information.

I look forward to more information coming forward soon on how alignment is to occur with Compiere Inc., Partners, Customers and particularly current and past community members.

If we treat all our relationships as a true partnership we will all succeed.

[Andries Pretorius]

To compare Adempiere Fork to Joomla vs Mambo is absurd. With the Joomla fork it was the development team that broke away from disinterested founders. To say the least - nowhere did the Joomla fork wage a public "outcry" like the Adempiere fork - an "outcry" which Compiere has absolutely no obligation to respond nor engage in (unless someone (maybe you?) can explain why they deem it necessary).

Compiere is a strong, maticulously planned ERP system to serve the business community in a whole new way (truly customisable framework). I challange any potential customer to carefully take a look at adempiere (should they not be stealing code back from Compiere since the fork in Sept06 - [because truly since Sept06 it would be stealing right?]) and to carefully review each on its own merits. True business IP is NOT how a product is licensed nor distributed, nor when opportunists get nervous because they may actually need to pay someone to still get that core IP support on an ongoing basis, but what the founder members and company have to offer over the long term.

As far as I can see the birth and change of Compiere Inc into a strong, healthy, vibrating, exciting and energetic company is truly a remarkable achievement. They want to get somewhere and they will - and the only way will be with a product that is a true market leader. No one has ever disputed that, nor should any user of any fork be confused as clearly this is just FUD that adempiere are promulgating (to go their(?) way?). Any Compiere fork is supposedly to pay homage and clearly state "powered by Compiere" as part of their re-branded name as per the original licence agreement (no one in the Adempiere community seem to be complaining about that). Why didn't Adempiere just start their own ERP - why start with Compiere source code then? It is just absurd - which ever way you look at it...

To make cosmetic changes, slam a website together and give it a new name and call it a "new way" is an absolute joke. Then the founders (unlike Joomla) a day later registers a .com ! even if adempiere.com is so truly not-for-profit - as a business person ask yourself honestly - who gets paid FIRST in a not-for-profit ?

What exactly have the Adempiere fork brought to the ERP market, except confusion and irritation ?

Your concerned statement - I will only contribute 'paid' developed code if there is something in it for you, the community or what (not sure what) doesn't make sense. It is your CHOICE my friend and I hope you understand that with Adempiere or even a proprietary closed ERP - its the SAME choice. Someone is going to get paid for your requirement (who better is the real question) ... what you do afterwards with it is your and only your CHOICE.

If a potential user really dont want to pay for software nor its support(again because of CHOICE), the FREE GPL open source model of Compiere has and always will remain a key component of the Compiere distribution model (never has been in question!). It is indeed this model that is facilitating your "research". Are you posting the same questions to other competitor proprietary ERP's as well ? I really am trying to understand what you are wanting to get answered?

All I am saying is just dont expect the same service as paying customers ( or complain to the whole world if you are not getting it ).

All the best (to Don that is).

[happily paying and contributing]

:-)

[red1]

We checked up the name Andries Pretorius (because among us ex Compiere partners we have not come across that name yet) and see that it is a hero that fought the zulus. Anyway, we hope you do not take our word for it, when we say in our website that we are a community fork and is more than legal yet moral. Ask Dawn here. She passed the interview. Otherwise ask the FSF.

To disqualified us in the bench with Joomla is also uncalled for. We have developer potential. We did submit code pacthes to Compiere. Many of us were also listed in the developer's list or the partners' list. Contributors naming are clouded in mystery that even you cannot hope to explain, because even JJ couldn't explain away (refer to http://fscavo.blogspot.com/2006/10/compieres-open-source-erp-business.html Frank Scavo take on this).

In Sept. '06 onwards of course ethnic cleansing occured to the good guys. Some were still legally paying partners but were thrown off either by force or legal twists.

Hope you get your journalism right or at least your sources right.

red1
Channel 12

[Former Compiere Partner]

Good answer, Red1. ComPiere people, particularly JJ, are very talented. They have built one of the best open source products out there, and certainly the most customizable ERP/CRM out there.

However, the problem was the support, the bug fixes [not made in a timely fashion], the uncertainity as to the product's Open Source future, and the lack of response. Additionally, the partnership and training fees did not give us anything in return. We appreciate all JJ has done, but to benefit we will be joining the Adempiere community soon. Hopefully that will work out for us.

Following everything said (and hopefully meant) by the Adempiere team, they gave ALL credit to JJ for creating an EXCELLENT product but their contributions, complaints, etc., were falling on deaf ears, unlike most other Open Source products... One MUST follow all these things before one is qualified to express a pertinent opinion or blast a person/group/community without basis. We have watched it for a while and the intentions seem noble from MOST (not all) Adempiere community "members".