SpikeSource practicing what it preaches

We recently ran a profile here about Kim Polese, CEO of the open source start-up SpikeSource. (It’s also here). In researching our story, we were struck by tussle she had with the media, being called everything from the “It Girl” by Time Magazine to the “Beauty of Hype,” by Fortune (a piece that enraged local female entrepreneurs). She’s back, though, and determined to move beyond that all.

Investor Ray Lane summed it up for us: “I think I’m a really, really good-looking guy, I stay in shape,” Lane said. “Yet the press doesn’t say anything about me being good-looking. I just don’t get it.”

Also, here’s the accompanying Q&A, which is a longer version than the one in the newspaper — although still an edited transcript, and some bio info, and things to know about her.

As usual, there was noteworthy stuff we couldn’t fit into the print edition. One is the policy at SpikeSource to use only open source software for its own business, something Polese said she is proud of. Below we list the stack SpikeSource is using:

They run their whole website using OSS. Features include:
- discussion forums – PhpBB
- trouble tickets – OTRS
- Naming directory – Open LDAP
- Web Server – Apache
- Servlet container – Tomcat
- Database – MySQL
- Search – Nutch

They use OSS on intranet. Here is the list:
- MoinMoin wiki for capturing processes, policies, feature requirements, evolving design etc.
- Bugzilla for bug tracking
- Subversion for source code versioning
- Intranet Portal – JetSpeed
- Web email client – SquirrelMail
- Naming Directory – OpenLDAP
- email server – Courier-IMAP

Desktops:
- Operating System and desktop – RHAT, SuSE
- email client – Ximian Evolution
- desktop productivity tools – Open Office
- Browser – Mozilla, FireFox
- Source code editor – Eclipse

Customer relations:
- SugarCRM

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