I am pleased to unveil (officially) the fact that
Virtuoso is now available in Open Source form.
What Is Virtuoso?
A powerful next generation server product that implements
otherwise distinct server functionality within a single server
product. Think of Virtuoso as the server software analog of a dual
core processor where each core represents a traditional server
functionality realm.
Where did it come from?
The Virtuoso
History page tells the whole story.
What Functionality Does It Provide?
The following:
1. Object-Relational DBMS Engine
(ORDBMS like PostgreSQL and DBMS engine like MySQL)
2. XML Data Management (with support
for XQuery, XPath, XSLT, and XML Schema)
3. RDF Triple Store (or Database)
that supports SPARQL (Query Language, Transport Protocol, and XML
Results Serialization format)
4. Service Oriented Architecture (it
combines a BPEL Engine with an ESB)
5. Web Application Server (supports
HTTP/WebDAV)
6. NNTP compliant Discussion
Server
And more. (see:
Virtuoso
Web Site)
90% of the aforementioned functionality has been available in
Virtuoso since 2000 with the RDF Triple Store being the only 2006
item.
What Platforms are Supported
The Virtuoso build scripts have been successfully tested on Mac
OS X (Universal Binary Target), Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris (AIX,
HP-UX, and True64 UNIX will follow soon). A Windows Visual Studio
project file is also in the works (ETA some time this week).
Why Open Source?
Simple, there is no value in a product of this magnitude
remaining the "best kept secret". That status works well for our
competitors, but absolutely works against the legions of new
generation developers, systems integrators, and knowledge workers
that need to be aware of what is actually achievable today with the
right server architecture.
What Open Source License is it under?
GPL version 2.
What's the business model?
Dual licensing.
The Open Source version of Virtuoso includes all of the
functionality listed above. While the Virtual Database (distributed
heterogeneous join engine) and Replication Engine (across
heterogeneous data sources) functionality will only be available in
the commercial version.
Where is the Project Hosted?
On SourceForge.
Is there a product Blog?
Of course!
Up until this point, the Virtuoso Product Blog
has been a covert live demonstration of some aspects of Virtuoso
(Content Management). My Personal Blog and the Virtuoso Product
Blog are actual Virtuoso instances, and have been so since I
started blogging in 2003.
Is There a product Wiki?
Sure! The
Virtuoso Product Wiki is also an instance of Virtuoso
demonstrating another aspect of the Content Management prowess of
Virtuoso.
What About Online Documentation?
Yep! Virtuoso
Online Documentation is hosted via yet another Virtuoso
instance. This particular instance also attempts to demonstrate
Free Text search combined with the ability to repurpose well formed
content in a myriad of forms (Atom, RSS, RDF, OPML, and OCS).
What about Tutorials and Demos?
The Virtuoso
Online Tutorial Site has operated as a live demonstration and
tutorial portal for a numbers of years. During the same timeframe
(circa. 2001) we also assembled a few Screencast style demos (their
look feel certainly show their age; updates are in the works).
BTW - We have also updated the Virtuoso FAQ and also
released a number of missing Virtuoso White
Papers (amongst many long overdue action items).