Open Source Software

GreenNet’s current CMS of choice is Drupal. It is an open source system for developing websites and publishing content to them. A Drupal website has at its heart a database of the site’s content (articles, reports, profiles, events etc..). The system serves content from the database to the right pages of the site in the appropriate style, as they are called for by site users. Site authors can add, modify and manage their content in that database using simple private online forms.

You may have heard us banging on from time to time, about going Open – kicking the Microsoft habit, and exploring the friendlier (often also safer) world of Linux-based technologies. Well there’s never been a better time to make the shift

ActionApps is a content management system (CMS) that made it possible for GreenNet to offer low-cost database driven websites which focused on maximising attention to content and minimised the effort needed to get it online. It was GreenNet’s first CMS, developed in 2000 by a group of techies from the APC network, and designed to meet the needs of civil society organisations wanting a dynamic presence on the web.

A discussion board is an online tool that provides a simple and intuituve way for a group of people to respond to discussion topics. We use PHPBB, which is a highly customisable open source discussion board. For a demo visit the Gaia’s Cafe Forums. Like Web Board it is managed via a web-based interface. It can send emails to people participating in an online discussion. Access can be restricted to a list of users or just those who login with a username, password and email address.

Intranets are a great way to share information and tools to help people work together in a team, especially when that team is spread out geographically. They offer imaginative solutions to organisations that are looking to reduce the environmental impact of running an office and transporting staff there each day.

GreenNet builds open source intranet solutions that include shared calendars, file stores, discussion spaces, notes, image galleries and contacts databases.

Our intranets are cheaper and more sharable than SharePoint Services.