Ian Landsman is Starting From Scratch, January 5, 2005:
Open Source Help Desk Software
If you're in the market for a powerful and user friendly Help Desk solution, please take a look at my company's flagship product HelpSpot.I just finished my latest review of what's going on in open source help desk software and thought I'd post up some links to the better looking ones. I don't really see them as competitors to my companies help desk software but rather as an opportunity.
First off many folks using these packages will never be customers. They may not be able to afford it, may prefer open source software, or may simply be comfortable using what they have. Second is that I believe people looking to purchase a help desk solution require a certain look to the software which most of these lack (as does most open source software applications). This is NOTHING to do with how good the software is, but is a fact of life. Someone looking to buy a Lexus isn't going to buy an Accord even though it's just as safe, gets better gas mileage, and is 30K cheaper. This actually goes back alot to the pricing stuff I posted about before. Third is that alot of great innovation occurs in open source help desk software and I want to make sure I'm on the cutting edge. The other commercial players in this space are slow and barely innovate at all so the best place to look for "what's hot" is in open source. Number four is support. What many organizations want when they buy software is simply someone to help them when it goes wrong(which is usually does at some point). I have more, but I'll save them for another day
Ok enough business. Here's the ones I've most recently checked out in no particular order but with total duds removed. I reviewed about 20 but most had not been updated in a long time,etc:
- http://www.stackworks.net/view.php/irm/index.html
- http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/
- http://www.liberum.org/
open source help desk software list and PHP help desk software list
Discussion
I totally agree. I think Wordpress is one of the few OS apps that has a nice installation. I'm planning on a totally web based install/update < 5 minutes. The thing with FogBugz is you have to do some stuff on the command line and they have a binary app that they use to grab email and that takes time to setup and so on.
The only part of installation that worries me is setting up the required cron jobs. There isn't really a good way to do this, but I'm hoping that putting together a very good tutorial will help.
We're def going to do a public beta. I'm not sure of the timeframe yet. I'm hoping by the end of February but maybe a bit later. There are a few other projects I'm finishing up which have eaten into my HelpSpot time a bit but that should be finishing up shortly. One of the great things about entering a mature software market is that there isn't a huge rush. There aren't alot of other people out there putting together new help desk packages so I'd rather take my time and get this done right.
I have seen PerlDesk. I don't like it. It does seem put together well but it has some poor ideology built in, IMHO. It's not just them but most help desk software. Here's an example, when you go to the self service area you can't access it without registering. Huh? If your my customer or you work in my company and you need support the last thing you want to run into in a moment of crisis is a stupid registration page. Second, why do we need that info? What are you going to do with it? Is getting someones zip code more important than helping your customer? And the part the aggravates me the most is that there is no value add to the customer remembering this new username. Next year when they come back for help they'll just create a new one. Of course since they already have one they'll get to go through the frustrating process of filling in the form and it saying the email is already taken. So then they'll have to have their password sent to them, etc etc.
Created by Ian Landsman on 01.05.2005 2:01 am
Have you heard of PerlDesk?
I had installed and used it at one company before and it was decent enough. [PerlDesk was free at that time.] I have not looked at current features, but the price of PerlDesk is certainly attractive for SMB.
And by the way, according to me, what Open Source Software needs the MOST is: 'Out of the Box' experience i.e. one should be able to install and start using the application immediately. It should be as easy as buying the car and turning the ignition key to drive it around. [Again FogBugz comes to my mind.]
I would like to know what you have planned for installation of HelpSpot.
Btw, when are you planning to release beta version? Are you even planning on doing public beta?
JD
Created by JD on 01.05.2005 2:01 am
I actually never installed FogBugz myself. I mentioned it because Joel did discuss his logic behind creating an installer application all by himself instead of using something from InstallShield OR Wise Solutions. After all this, I didn't know that FogBugz setup required use of command line.
Btw, if I can ask, when you see 'We', do you use it as plural to identify yourself OR you do actually have a team which is working on HelpSpot.
And yeah, your point regarding PerlDesk is absolutely valid. And I think you should do lot of 'evangelism' about how Customer Support product should be. What are the things which you don't like in current customer support products. Obviously, all of your evangelism can be followed by a note saying that your product does have the particular feature. I think one of the reasons why Joel's FogBugz product is successful because he publicized the necessity of bug tracking application and the correct way to use it. [Sorry, I keep coming back to Joel and his products]
Now the only tricky part is how to evangelize successfully. My thoughts:
Is it possible for you to write up article about problems with current customer support products and get it published in say ZDNet or CNET?
Do you follow all the discussions in blogosphere about ‘help desk’ using Technorati?
Do you visit support forums of various open source help desk software and see what people are requesting/cribbing about the most?
Just trying to bounce some ideas, I hope you don’t mind.
JD
Created by JD on 01.05.2005 2:01 am
No it is "we", but not full time "we's", heh. I have another guy programming some classes which are stand alone as well as 2 more outsourcers working on logos and design. I'm doing most of the primary coding though and I hope to get them all more involved as my time frees up a bit and we really get rolling.
Actually the other programmer is working on some exiting stuff right now. He's creating the bayesian filter system for the email integration so that all the help desk email will be protected from spam.
I'm a huge fan of Joel and I think the same thing is you that his blog/articles/forum get him alot of sales. That is one of the main reasons I started this blog so early. I know it's going to take 6-8 months to get an real readership here so I want to get going way before the product is ready so once it is I'm hitting the ground running.
I guess great minds think alike because i definitely plan on doing some evangelism articles. Nobody is really writing alot about help desk software so I think it would be possible to become somewhat well known in that area. I'm going to wait on that though until just before or as we launch since people who read those articles need to be able to buy or at least try HelpSpot. I also have some more specific publications in mind like the Chronicle of Higher Education and places like that which cater to more specific audiences.
Yeah I'm all over the place tracking the discussions. Again that's one of the big advantages I believe I have is that I'm pretty up on what's going on, where as one look at Intuit track-it (etc) and you can see they aren't.
I do go to the boards I can get into without registering
Hey keep the ideas coming, I'm out here writing to learn as much as I can.
Created by Ian Landsman on 01.05.2005 2:01 am
I totally agree. I think Wordpress is one of the few OS apps that has a nice installation. I'm planning on a totally web based install/update < 5 minutes. The thing with FogBugz is you have to do some stuff on the command line and they have a binary app that they use to grab email and that takes time to setup and so on.
The only part of installation that worries me is setting up the required cron jobs. There isn't really a good way to do this, but I'm hoping that putting together a very good tutorial will help.
We're def going to do a public beta. I'm not sure of the timeframe yet. I'm hoping by the end of February but maybe a bit later. There are a few other projects I'm finishing up which have eaten into my HelpSpot time a bit but that should be finishing up shortly. One of the great things about entering a mature software market is that there isn't a huge rush. There aren't alot of other people out there putting together new help desk packages so I'd rather take my time and get this done right.
I have seen PerlDesk. I don't like it. It does seem put together well but it has some poor ideology built in, IMHO. It's not just them but most help desk software. Here's an example, when you go to the self service area you can't access it without registering. Huh? If your my customer or you work in my company and you need support the last thing you want to run into in a moment of crisis is a stupid registration page. Second, why do we need that info? What are you going to do with it? Is getting someones zip code more important than helping your customer? And the part the aggravates me the most is that there is no value add to the customer remembering this new username. Next year when they come back for help they'll just create a new one. Of course since they already have one they'll get to go through the frustrating process of filling in the form and it saying the email is already taken. So then they'll have to have their password sent to them, etc etc.
Created by Ian Landsman on 01.05.2005 2:01 am
Have you heard of PerlDesk?
I had installed and used it at one company before and it was decent enough. [PerlDesk was free at that time.] I have not looked at current features, but the price of PerlDesk is certainly attractive for SMB.
And by the way, according to me, what Open Source Software needs the MOST is: 'Out of the Box' experience i.e. one should be able to install and start using the application immediately. It should be as easy as buying the car and turning the ignition key to drive it around. [Again FogBugz comes to my mind.]
I would like to know what you have planned for installation of HelpSpot.
Btw, when are you planning to release beta version? Are you even planning on doing public beta?
JD
Created by JD on 01.05.2005 2:01 am
I actually never installed FogBugz myself. I mentioned it because Joel did discuss his logic behind creating an installer application all by himself instead of using something from InstallShield OR Wise Solutions. After all this, I didn't know that FogBugz setup required use of command line.
Btw, if I can ask, when you see 'We', do you use it as plural to identify yourself OR you do actually have a team which is working on HelpSpot.
And yeah, your point regarding PerlDesk is absolutely valid. And I think you should do lot of 'evangelism' about how Customer Support product should be. What are the things which you don't like in current customer support products. Obviously, all of your evangelism can be followed by a note saying that your product does have the particular feature. I think one of the reasons why Joel's FogBugz product is successful because he publicized the necessity of bug tracking application and the correct way to use it. [Sorry, I keep coming back to Joel and his products]
Now the only tricky part is how to evangelize successfully. My thoughts:
Is it possible for you to write up article about problems with current customer support products and get it published in say ZDNet or CNET?
Do you follow all the discussions in blogosphere about ‘help desk’ using Technorati?
Do you visit support forums of various open source help desk software and see what people are requesting/cribbing about the most?
Just trying to bounce some ideas, I hope you don’t mind.
JD
Created by JD on 01.05.2005 2:01 am
No it is "we", but not full time "we's", heh. I have another guy programming some classes which are stand alone as well as 2 more outsourcers working on logos and design. I'm doing most of the primary coding though and I hope to get them all more involved as my time frees up a bit and we really get rolling.
Actually the other programmer is working on some exiting stuff right now. He's creating the bayesian filter system for the email integration so that all the help desk email will be protected from spam.
I'm a huge fan of Joel and I think the same thing is you that his blog/articles/forum get him alot of sales. That is one of the main reasons I started this blog so early. I know it's going to take 6-8 months to get an real readership here so I want to get going way before the product is ready so once it is I'm hitting the ground running.
I guess great minds think alike because i definitely plan on doing some evangelism articles. Nobody is really writing alot about help desk software so I think it would be possible to become somewhat well known in that area. I'm going to wait on that though until just before or as we launch since people who read those articles need to be able to buy or at least try HelpSpot. I also have some more specific publications in mind like the Chronicle of Higher Education and places like that which cater to more specific audiences.
Yeah I'm all over the place tracking the discussions. Again that's one of the big advantages I believe I have is that I'm pretty up on what's going on, where as one look at Intuit track-it (etc) and you can see they aren't.
I do go to the boards I can get into without registering
Hey keep the ideas coming, I'm out here writing to learn as much as I can.
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Created by Ian Landsman on 01.05.2005 2:01 am