TeleFlow Communicator

Open Communications for Business & Pleasure

Open Source Series - Part 1: The Magic that Makes it Viable

[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 06.30.08 under Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION

One of the most generally misunderstood aspects of software today is Open Source.  This post explains what I feel is the most important point that makes Open Source work for all interested parties.

When we started development of TeleFlow in 1994, our mission was to provide the world with a very simple to use telecommunications development and deployment product that could be used by people who were generally knowledgeable about computers and databases, and negate the need to have a degree in telecommunications engineering.   The idea was to use a design environment (TeleFlow Designer, which was inspired by Visio) in order to develop flow diagrams.  The resulting files would then be loaded and run by TeleFlow Server.  The application was a success and enabled people to easily develop simple IVR systems.  However, the demands of the market required us to develop more and more functionality (call switching, conferencing, call recording, IP support, multiple protocols and so on), and by 1999 we found ourselves overwhelmed with feature requests.  It got to the point where we pondered going Open Source in order to readily have others extend the server environment.

We made this decision to remain closed because we did not properly understand the nature of Open Source.  Because of it, we worked a good deal harder than we ever should have had to, and could not include contract developers because of concerns about the source code escaping.  In retrospect, we would have been much better off, if we had not let fear guide our decision making process.

WHAT WAS, AND IS STILL NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD

At the time, we believed that Open Source meant that the person or company lost control of ownership rights, and therefore all hope of generating revenue.  It really seemed like a modern form of communism had taken hold, and been renamed “Open Source”.  In some ways, this is actually true, but only if looked at in a negative light.   However, the point that is often missed is that fact that the owner of the software has every right to do what he or she pleases with it.  This is the key aspect of Open Source. It can be dual licensed.

The term “dual-licensing” was very much cemented into our minds by the creators of MySQL.  When Google needed a database that they could augment to the core in order to run their proprietary queries with, they approached MySQL.  Google naturally didn’t want to share back their innovations to the rest of the world, for a while at least, so the Open Source license was not an option.  To satisfy Google, and make some money in the process, MySQL dual licensed their “free” software to a commercial version.  In other words, MySQL effectively “sold” their open source software as closed source, or to put it another way, Google bought the right to use the MySQL database however they saw fit.  This was possible due to the fact that MySQL owned the code, so they could provide it for free in one license and sell it under another.

THE OWNER OF OPEN SOURCE CAN SELL IT LIKE NO OTHER

This is the magic and the testament to Open Source.   The owner of an Open Source project can sell or provide it under other licenses.  No one else has the rights to do this, unless they too license the software from the owner.  Revenue opportunity kicks in when a company wants to sell your product along with their closed source application.  Without dual licensing, this would not be possible.

Please check back for future blog entries about Open Source where we discuss issues of fairness, upsides, a major downside, and community building.  We will also be announcing a major contest based on the upcoming TeleFlow Open Source release.

Audio and the Art of Editing - Part 1

[ No Comments ] Posted on 06.20.08 under Uncategorized

One of the challenges for developers of telecommunications systems with IVR interfaces is the voice work.  Very often this can be a tedious effort which is often passed over when the developer does not have a good sounding voice near by.   Unfortunately, or perhaps rightfully so, the perception of a good system and one that is less desirable often comes down to the voice work.

TeleFlow Designer includes a very simple voice recording system built into the Voice Script Manager section.  It was always intended to work as a quick way to initialize the voice recordings (wav files) so that the system would have a voice as it was being developed.  Later, we would use CoolEdit to quickly re-record all the voice files in one person’s voice.  CoolEdit has since disappeared, but in its place is a new product.

It’s called Audacity, and its a great multi-track sound editor that works well for recording files.  Please refer to the following link for download location.

http://teleflow.org/wiki/?title=Standard_Software_Installations#Sound_Editing

This open source application is freely downloadable and is very helpful for when you need to re-record your entire system in one sitting.   It should be easy enough for your voice talent to do their own editing, and making it possible to have a professional sounding front end.

If you do decide to adopt it for your TeleFlow development, ensure that you set the preferences to 16bit, 8000hz, Mono files.  If you do not do this, then you will need to convert all your files from the format.  That’s one of the few obvious features missing from this software.

As it turns out, TeleFlow 2008 includes a new program (TFWaveToStandard.exe) which will help you convert all your Wav files en-mass to the TeleFlow standard.   Look for this functional, along with Designer and Server updates in the next release of TeleFlow due late June.

First TeleFlow Contest Won!

[ No Comments ] Posted on 06.02.08 under Uncategorized

A winner has been chosen for the first TeleFlow.org competition!

Cindy French from Vancouver, Canada won the $500.00 prize for her text messaging idea.  Her details and the application concept will be posted soon.

TeleFlow contests are ongoing and everyday the prize money increases, don’t miss out on the opportunity to win money!