osCommerce 3.0 Alpha 4 Released

Submitted by Bryan on April 3, 2007 - 5:05am
osCommerce, an open source shopping cart, is one more step closer to reaching a 3.0 release.  Although the journey to completing the  osCommerce 3.0 software continues to take users and developers on a very long road,  Alpha 4 was released to the public on March 30th.  As a reminder,  alpha releases of osCommerce are for "testing to help fix and improve subsequent alpha releases for a final, stable, secure, and production ready 3.0 release".  In other words, you shouldn't use the software for a "live" store.

We've already talked about the new features added in earlier alpha versions of osCommerce 3.0 so there is no need to mention them in this article.  New features in Alpha 4 that have been added to the shopping cart since Alpha 3 include:
  • Administration Tool access levels (about time)
  • Administrator Log
  • Administration Tool batch action capabilities
  • HTML Editor for product descriptions (long overdue in my opinion)
  • Full zone entries for most countries
  • Language injection feature for similar languages
  • GeoIP Modules for the Administration Tool Who's Online section
The full list of changes to reported issues that occurred during development of the release can be seen in the change log.

In the next month of so I plan on taking a look at  at this latest alpha version of osCommerce 3.0 more closely.  I have some hopes that there will be enough changes in the software that I won't be needing to migrate a client or two to another shopping cart package in the near future.  Stay tuned to for a review in the near future...
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osCommerce alternatives

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 3, 2007 - 9:25am.
What alternative shopping cart packages are you looking at?

Drupal/Joomla ecommerce

Submitted by Bryan on April 4, 2007 - 6:00am.
Plenty of options are available for an ecommerce site, whether open source or propriety.  To be honest, some of the better shopping carts I've seen are propriety CMS and as long as I wasn't locked into the software I think the client would be willing to foot the bill.   If I was to migrate the client away from osCommerce to another open source project there are two projects I would consider:
  1. Ubercart which runs on Drupal
  2. VirtueMart for Joomla!
Both of the above mentioned modules/extensions would allow me to give clients additional CMS features (blogging, content management, etc) that are not so readily available in most ecommerce packages.  I also understand that both projects have some roots with osCommerce with regards to look, feel, and possibly even some source code.

Joomla osCommerce Drupal

Submitted by Jared Ritchey (not verified) on May 10, 2007 - 1:43pm.
Nice article, I bookmarked it so I can keep coming back. A little plug about Joomla and Drupal when comparing to osCommerce is that Joomla is SUPER DIFFICULT to get SSL and SEF working at the same time and Drupal is almost as difficult. I've attempted the Joomla / OpenSEF / VirtueMart method and finally had to do a bridge for Joomla and osCommerce because SSL and navigation just would not work. Thought I'd drop that in for those who may consider other options. osCommerce is the better solution.

osCommerce concerns

Submitted by Bryan on May 11, 2007 - 10:29pm.
My concern isn't so much about migrating an osCommerce site to Drupal...but how the heck to migrate from Drupal back to osCommerce.  It's usually easy to find a script that will migrate you from a popular application to a less popular application (in this case Drupal/Joomla for the purpose of a shopping cart) then the other way back.  Though...I really do think think if osCommerce 3 doesn't deliver people will be turn away from it.  I still can't believe the amount of hacks I've had to do with osCommerce on the few sites I've worked with.

I run a software store ...

Submitted by Mike Robinson (not verified) on June 27, 2007 - 8:33am.
I run a software store, and since I wrote the software in question I am a pretty good programmer -- but this time, I don't want to be. (I'm using a somewhat-lame hosting plan (1and1.com) that understands Perl and PHP but whose Python is in the stone-age.) Here's what I want ...
  • Static pages organized in a simple way. News and features.
  • Ability to securely take orders and clear them through PayPal, Google Checkout, or any suitable credit-card-clearing provider, without me seeing or handling the card-number.
  • Immediate issue of a license-code and access to the download area upon acceptance of payment. Positive logging of all downloads that have occurred.
  • Integrated trouble-ticket system.
  • We may move into a forum once again.
  • MySQL back-end.
  • "All under one roof." From start to finish, the customer sees only a single website image.
  • Bookmarkable URLs.
Is that too much to ask for? Didn't think so. But I have neither the time nor the inclination to surf far-and-wide, trying this-n-that, knowing that somebody else (and that would be you, Gentle Reader) has already banged his or her head against this same wall before. Thanks for your help. I need this right away. Mike Robinson :: sundial.services at gmail.com

Ecommerce site experience

Submitted by Bryan on June 30, 2007 - 8:53am.
Mike,

After a few years of people asking me "what is the perfect software" for an ecommerce site, I'm convinced there isn't one out there.  It's really difficult to find a CMS/Shopping cart application that works "out of the box".  Why is that?  Mainly because, your ecommerce site is more than just a Website but an extension to your business.  Your unique business processes, strategies, and goals requires a site that is unique of other business sites.  Whether you go with commercial or "free" software you're likely needing someone to spend some time in customization of the software.

In the open source arena, I still say to provide a Web 2.0 ecommerce site...osCommerce and some of the other popular shopping cart only software isn't likely to meet most people's needs.  I would probably start with something like Drupal or Joomla and look for third-party or contributed modules that will fit your need.

Personally, I'd like to see someone recommend some commercial software that fits your needs but allows some customization of the look and feel of the site.  I know it would make my life and potential clients easier to have a good starting point out there.

Good luck,
Bryan