Implementing E-Commerce on Your Linux System - page 6

Previews of TallyMan, Yams, and OpenMerchant

The e-commerce-software field is wide open, with no single vendor or tool establishing a dominant market share. TallyMan, Yams, and OpenMerchant are in a heated competition to bring stable and usable tools to market.

But all three have potential aces in the hole with their heritage as open-source solutions based on Perl. Most e-commerce solutions are closed systems that usually perform well in cookie-cutter situations, but aren't flexible when changes are needed. Let's face it: everyone's business is a little or a lot different, and as the Internet roars toward true globalization e-commerce software will need to be as adaptable as possible.

So the choice will be: are you willing to commit to a closed system where changes will take place slowly and outside your control, or are you willing to wait a little while for the final releases of products that could be the basis of your e-commerce offerings for years to come? That's the issue. If you can wait, then the recommendation is to wait for one of these three-open source tools to emerge as a stable, mission-critical piece of software. Judging by the promise shown by all three, it won't be long.