8 ms·

Tree.io – Open Source Business Management Software

197 points by X4 13y ago

exceptione 13y ago
It looks to be a feature-rich tool. Does anyone know why development has stopped 9 months ago? At least, I conclude so from the github commit history.
- glibgil 13y ago
  Always use the graph to see what is happening across all branches and tags. https://github.com/treeio/treeio/network https://github.com/treeio/treeio/network
  - hatsix 13y ago
    0 commits on master and 0 bugs fixed in 9 months, a handful of commits by a user who branched off of master a couple months ago (and no PRs)... I think it's safe to say that that the 'public' version has been dormant for 9 months.
    - glibgil 13y ago
      It is safe to say that a pull request could happen at any time, which it did. This project has now been dormant for 22 minutes. https://github.com/treeio/treeio/commit/32319c82ca45ff653ca23b111dbc783cdef0ad05 https://github.com/treeio/treeio/commit/32319c82ca45ff653ca2...
obituary_latte 13y ago
Am I reading it wrong or do the website and repo licenses not match?
- rbanffy 13y ago
  The site says "free open source" and the repo has a BSD-ish license in it. Where did you find the conflicting info?
  - obituary_latte 13y ago
    http://tree.io/en/download http://tree.io/en/download says Creative Commons but in the repo .README it says MIT.
    - tracker1 13y ago
      CC may only apply to the artwork/creatives, where MIT may refer to the code.. this is only speculation.
      - treeio 13y ago
        The code is MIT licensed, the website has not been updated.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
hardwaresofton 13y ago
I think the model might be a little bit misguided (having everything in one place is not necessarily a good thing, specialization and all) -- but open source and awesome? I'm down with that
- drone 13y ago
  Agreed, although there are more capable ERP systems out there of varying degrees of openness, I've found many of them suffer from one serious core flaw (for my needs): Failure to integrate effectively with Quickbooks or QBO (the latter being more likely for most ERP-like systems these days). I understand that some businesses need fewer advanced financial features, but every promise of "integrated one-stop back-end" has left me with having to have multiple processes for the same task. I wish more of these projects would integrate with common, effective, players in specialized areas rather than trying to "be everything to everyone" - a good ERP system these days would really be glue between the powerhouses moreso than replacements. Alas, this project looks to be struggling - no blog posts since 2011, and minimal activity over 2013 in github.
  - X4 13y ago
    I wouldn't say the other software are more capable, but rather more featureful. The problem with OpenBravo and SugarCRM is that it's really really difficult to use. Every procedure depends on another procedure and you need a Book to get going. As a company that is a massive backshot when you have to teach existing employees. I argue that simplicity in the UI and clear workflows going through the entire application are essential for success, well and marketing. And tree.io had no good marketing, I hope it gets some fresh wind thanks to HN on Github.
  - jacques_chester 13y ago
    Some ERP projects use single systems, some stitch together "Best of Breed". There's no consensus about which one is the best form of cash bonfire.
- X4 13y ago
  Tree.io is simple, which allows for customization and specialization. :) I think you mistake all-in-one with complexity and non-adaptability. Centralization makes software vulnerable, that's right, but not this type of in-house centralization. Correct me if I am wrong. Even the best and most loosely coupled component-based software has one problem, it needs to be connected (glued if badly written) to other systems to make it useful. What this evolves to is a complex network of interlinked components. Similar to organic systems nature has invented. Ironic, that we humans create similarly working components that we're made out of.
pbreit 13y ago
I'm not sure "ambitious" is even the right word to describe such a project. A demo would be nice. I'm guessing the project has 0 real users (download <> user).
- X4 13y ago
  I measured that +53 Stars have appeared on Github right after posting the link. It received 38 points until now, that means more people have interest in the software than people are upvoing on HN. That's really good to know, I feel sympathy with people who opensource their efforts to help the people of the world. (328 Stars pre HN)
  - treeio 13y ago
    Thanks X4, I put over a year of hard work and a lot of my own money into Tree.io. I'm happy that it's used around the world by companies and universities even though I don't get any money from it.
    - X4 13y ago
      How about adding a viable business model that brings you some constant money in? I mean you are a really good startup, why don't you ask for VC funding or Enterprise Sponsors? Maybe a solid and good marketed Kickstarter Campaign that will realize something that people would love to have (I don't know what that is though). Or adding an integrated Marketplace like http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/ http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/ that seamlessly integrates into everyones Tree.io so that devs can sell their addons to end-users directly within their own install + you get 11% for every sold license. End-users can point, click and pay.
      - treeio 13y ago
        Thanks X4 I like the marketplace idea a lot.
eranation 13y ago
Any idea how they plan to make money? (it's MIT licensed) support? / hosting? or is it not for profit?
- siddboots 13y ago
  I think consulting.
  - X4 13y ago
    yes, exactly. Their current business-model is support and consulting afaik.
zdw 13y ago
I'm stunned that nobody has made one of these that's CLI based and scriptable...
- drmr 13y ago
  Org mode? http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/
Killah911 13y ago
This is really awesome. The only thing that keeps me from using it right away is that it doesn't seem to have much activity. Anyone have the DL on the creators of the project and if they're maybe monetizing by doing support etc? Would love to use this, just worried about getting stuck up the creek without a paddle. Many forum questions appear to have been lingering there for months without a response.
JesseObrien 13y ago
Can anyone get the install process to actually work? I got to 'python manage.py installdb' and it failed because that command doesn't exist in manage.py. I tried a bunch of the other commands from manage.py help as well and still nothing.
- maikhoepfel 13y ago
  It's a Django project, so the command might be "syncdb" instead. If that doesn't do the trick, they'll have installed a custom management command that doesn't seem to get picked up. Grep the source code for installdb then.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- Joeboy 13y ago
  It sounds as if maybe your pythonpath isn't set up correctly. Try export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/path/to/treeio:/path/to/ (ie add the project path and its parent to PYTHONPATH), then try manage.py installdb again. NB This is guesswork based on prior django experience, I haven't actually tried installing it.
- mjhagen 13y ago
  I had to install MySQL-python, but now I'm stuck on a foreign key conflict when importing the initial data.json file. IntegrityError: (1452, 'Cannot add or update a child row: a foreign key constraint fails (`treeiodb`.`core_user`, CONSTRAINT `user_id_refs_id_4bf8d20` FOREIGN KEY (`user_id`) REFERENCES `auth_user` (`id`))')
  - X4 13y ago
    Please have a look at the issue tracker, there is an easy fix. Just run: mysql -u username -p -D database < sql/mysql-treeio-current.sql
    - mjhagen 13y ago
      That would've been easier :) I ended up manually checking the order in which the data in the json file was inserted and fixing that.
borplk 13y ago
Every time I come across these projects I think an easy to use web fronted for Docker would be amazingly useful. Anyone could install it once and from then you just switch Docker containers in and out to try different projects, etc... and don't have to do the bulk of the server preparation that 99% of people don't know how to do properly or just can't bother with. It will bring this amazing wealth of self-hosted projects to the every day user. If it becomes popular projects will start providing Docker containers. A registry can also be made so that you can search and install them without hassle right from the UI. Or the command line, "docker-get install tree.io" Take my idea and run with it! Run!
- shykes 13y ago
  Docker already includes a registry :) "docker pull borplk/tres.io"? You can search at http://index.docker.io http://index.docker.io
  - shykes 13y ago
    And web UIs for docker: https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui https://github.com/ehazlett/shipyard https://github.com/ehazlett/shipyard
  - treeio 13y ago
    I have created a script to run tree.io in docker with a lightweight (25MB) postgresql instance. Simply install Docker then run this script https://gist.github.com/funkotron/6025664 https://gist.github.com/funkotron/6025664
- zimbatm 13y ago
  I talked to Solomon during DotScale 2013 and submitted that the index could be transformed into an app-store. He didn't seemed opposed to the idea but said they want to focus on making the base stable. Just saying the idea is out there. Apart from the app-store what's missing is more container metadata with an embedded security model and maybe signed binaries. The server-side also need a UI that is higher-level than the existing Docker UI [1] project. There's also some work missing on state handling. [1]: https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui
etchalon 13y ago
That's a.) incredible that it's open source (thanks!) but b.) truly a terrible UI.
- sleepyhead 13y ago
  Like all open source applications. I use OSS exclusively for development. I think the only OSS GUI app I use is Sequel Pro (which is actually quite good).
clarkm 13y ago
Did this used to be called Giteso? Did it just get renamed to Tree.io or it a completely different product? I'm only asking because the bottom of http://tree.io/en/jobs http://tree.io/en/jobs mentions it. :)
- radicalbyte 13y ago
  http://wayback.archive.org/web/20110228035141/http://tree.io/ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20110228035141/http://tree.io... > © 2011 Giteso Ltd. All rights reserved. > Registered in England. Company No. 07416236
- treeio 13y ago
  Tree.io used to be called Hardtree and our company Giteso, we renamed both to Tree.io
ziggamon 13y ago
Name seemed familiar, and in deed their blog has posts from 2011 when they were a SaaS. Anyone know what happened, did it simply fail and they open sourced it or is there something else in play here? Cool project either way though :)
- JohnLBevan 13y ago
  My guess is enterprises were scared of going the SaaS route; partly as this model is still relatively new, but mainly because companies like to keep their data in house (or at least need the option to easily get hold of a regular backup / with some way to quickly restore it should the vendor go under).
  - treeio 13y ago
    Infrastructure costs. We had too many users on the free tier (5 users for free) and our server costs went through the roof. We didn't know how to find investment and my business partner needed cash so took a contract job.
Bjoern 13y ago
This reminds me of TeamBox (version 3 is also opensource).
X4 13y ago
Here's a video introducing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKhxzwO43k&list=UUBWJQIUhDQzrPn0Yi-6pgDw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKhxzwO43k&list=UUBWJQIUhDQz...

197 points by X4 13y ago

It looks to be a feature-rich tool. Does anyone know why development has stopped 9 months ago? At least, I conclude so from the github commit history.

glibgil 13y ago
Always use the graph to see what is happening across all branches and tags. https://github.com/treeio/treeio/network https://github.com/treeio/treeio/network
- hatsix 13y ago
  0 commits on master and 0 bugs fixed in 9 months, a handful of commits by a user who branched off of master a couple months ago (and no PRs)... I think it's safe to say that that the 'public' version has been dormant for 9 months.
  - glibgil 13y ago
    It is safe to say that a pull request could happen at any time, which it did. This project has now been dormant for 22 minutes. https://github.com/treeio/treeio/commit/32319c82ca45ff653ca23b111dbc783cdef0ad05 https://github.com/treeio/treeio/commit/32319c82ca45ff653ca2...

obituary_latte 13y ago

Am I reading it wrong or do the website and repo licenses not match?

rbanffy 13y ago
The site says "free open source" and the repo has a BSD-ish license in it. Where did you find the conflicting info?
- obituary_latte 13y ago
  http://tree.io/en/download http://tree.io/en/download says Creative Commons but in the repo .README it says MIT.
  - tracker1 13y ago
    CC may only apply to the artwork/creatives, where MIT may refer to the code.. this is only speculation.
    - treeio 13y ago
      The code is MIT licensed, the website has not been updated.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

hardwaresofton 13y ago

I think the model might be a little bit misguided (having everything in one place is not necessarily a good thing, specialization and all) -- but open source and awesome? I'm down with that

drone 13y ago
Agreed, although there are more capable ERP systems out there of varying degrees of openness, I've found many of them suffer from one serious core flaw (for my needs): Failure to integrate effectively with Quickbooks or QBO (the latter being more likely for most ERP-like systems these days). I understand that some businesses need fewer advanced financial features, but every promise of "integrated one-stop back-end" has left me with having to have multiple processes for the same task. I wish more of these projects would integrate with common, effective, players in specialized areas rather than trying to "be everything to everyone" - a good ERP system these days would really be glue between the powerhouses moreso than replacements. Alas, this project looks to be struggling - no blog posts since 2011, and minimal activity over 2013 in github.
- X4 13y ago
  I wouldn't say the other software are more capable, but rather more featureful. The problem with OpenBravo and SugarCRM is that it's really really difficult to use. Every procedure depends on another procedure and you need a Book to get going. As a company that is a massive backshot when you have to teach existing employees. I argue that simplicity in the UI and clear workflows going through the entire application are essential for success, well and marketing. And tree.io had no good marketing, I hope it gets some fresh wind thanks to HN on Github.
- jacques_chester 13y ago
  Some ERP projects use single systems, some stitch together "Best of Breed". There's no consensus about which one is the best form of cash bonfire.
X4 13y ago
Tree.io is simple, which allows for customization and specialization. :) I think you mistake all-in-one with complexity and non-adaptability. Centralization makes software vulnerable, that's right, but not this type of in-house centralization. Correct me if I am wrong. Even the best and most loosely coupled component-based software has one problem, it needs to be connected (glued if badly written) to other systems to make it useful. What this evolves to is a complex network of interlinked components. Similar to organic systems nature has invented. Ironic, that we humans create similarly working components that we're made out of.

pbreit 13y ago

I'm not sure "ambitious" is even the right word to describe such a project. A demo would be nice. I'm guessing the project has 0 real users (download <> user).

X4 13y ago
I measured that +53 Stars have appeared on Github right after posting the link. It received 38 points until now, that means more people have interest in the software than people are upvoing on HN. That's really good to know, I feel sympathy with people who opensource their efforts to help the people of the world. (328 Stars pre HN)
- treeio 13y ago
  Thanks X4, I put over a year of hard work and a lot of my own money into Tree.io. I'm happy that it's used around the world by companies and universities even though I don't get any money from it.
  - X4 13y ago
    How about adding a viable business model that brings you some constant money in? I mean you are a really good startup, why don't you ask for VC funding or Enterprise Sponsors? Maybe a solid and good marketed Kickstarter Campaign that will realize something that people would love to have (I don't know what that is though). Or adding an integrated Marketplace like http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/ http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/ that seamlessly integrates into everyones Tree.io so that devs can sell their addons to end-users directly within their own install + you get 11% for every sold license. End-users can point, click and pay.
    - treeio 13y ago
      Thanks X4 I like the marketplace idea a lot.

eranation 13y ago

Any idea how they plan to make money? (it's MIT licensed) support? / hosting? or is it not for profit?

siddboots 13y ago
I think consulting.
- X4 13y ago
  yes, exactly. Their current business-model is support and consulting afaik.

zdw 13y ago

I'm stunned that nobody has made one of these that's CLI based and scriptable...

drmr 13y ago
Org mode? http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/

Killah911 13y ago

This is really awesome. The only thing that keeps me from using it right away is that it doesn't seem to have much activity. Anyone have the DL on the creators of the project and if they're maybe monetizing by doing support etc? Would love to use this, just worried about getting stuck up the creek without a paddle. Many forum questions appear to have been lingering there for months without a response.

JesseObrien 13y ago

Can anyone get the install process to actually work? I got to 'python manage.py installdb' and it failed because that command doesn't exist in manage.py. I tried a bunch of the other commands from manage.py help as well and still nothing.

maikhoepfel 13y ago
It's a Django project, so the command might be "syncdb" instead. If that doesn't do the trick, they'll have installed a custom management command that doesn't seem to get picked up. Grep the source code for installdb then.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
Joeboy 13y ago
It sounds as if maybe your pythonpath isn't set up correctly. Try export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/path/to/treeio:/path/to/ (ie add the project path and its parent to PYTHONPATH), then try manage.py installdb again. NB This is guesswork based on prior django experience, I haven't actually tried installing it.
mjhagen 13y ago
I had to install MySQL-python, but now I'm stuck on a foreign key conflict when importing the initial data.json file. IntegrityError: (1452, 'Cannot add or update a child row: a foreign key constraint fails (`treeiodb`.`core_user`, CONSTRAINT `user_id_refs_id_4bf8d20` FOREIGN KEY (`user_id`) REFERENCES `auth_user` (`id`))')
- X4 13y ago
  Please have a look at the issue tracker, there is an easy fix. Just run: mysql -u username -p -D database < sql/mysql-treeio-current.sql
  - mjhagen 13y ago
    That would've been easier :) I ended up manually checking the order in which the data in the json file was inserted and fixing that.

borplk 13y ago

Every time I come across these projects I think an easy to use web fronted for Docker would be amazingly useful. Anyone could install it once and from then you just switch Docker containers in and out to try different projects, etc... and don't have to do the bulk of the server preparation that 99% of people don't know how to do properly or just can't bother with. It will bring this amazing wealth of self-hosted projects to the every day user. If it becomes popular projects will start providing Docker containers. A registry can also be made so that you can search and install them without hassle right from the UI. Or the command line, "docker-get install tree.io" Take my idea and run with it! Run!

shykes 13y ago
Docker already includes a registry :) "docker pull borplk/tres.io"? You can search at http://index.docker.io http://index.docker.io
- shykes 13y ago
  And web UIs for docker: https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui https://github.com/ehazlett/shipyard https://github.com/ehazlett/shipyard
- treeio 13y ago
  I have created a script to run tree.io in docker with a lightweight (25MB) postgresql instance. Simply install Docker then run this script https://gist.github.com/funkotron/6025664 https://gist.github.com/funkotron/6025664
zimbatm 13y ago
I talked to Solomon during DotScale 2013 and submitted that the index could be transformed into an app-store. He didn't seemed opposed to the idea but said they want to focus on making the base stable. Just saying the idea is out there. Apart from the app-store what's missing is more container metadata with an embedded security model and maybe signed binaries. The server-side also need a UI that is higher-level than the existing Docker UI [1] project. There's also some work missing on state handling. [1]: https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui https://github.com/crosbymichael/dockerui

etchalon 13y ago

That's a.) incredible that it's open source (thanks!) but b.) truly a terrible UI.

sleepyhead 13y ago
Like all open source applications. I use OSS exclusively for development. I think the only OSS GUI app I use is Sequel Pro (which is actually quite good).

clarkm 13y ago

Did this used to be called Giteso? Did it just get renamed to Tree.io or it a completely different product? I'm only asking because the bottom of http://tree.io/en/jobs http://tree.io/en/jobs mentions it. :)

radicalbyte 13y ago
http://wayback.archive.org/web/20110228035141/http://tree.io/ http://wayback.archive.org/web/20110228035141/http://tree.io... > © 2011 Giteso Ltd. All rights reserved. > Registered in England. Company No. 07416236
treeio 13y ago
Tree.io used to be called Hardtree and our company Giteso, we renamed both to Tree.io

ziggamon 13y ago

Name seemed familiar, and in deed their blog has posts from 2011 when they were a SaaS. Anyone know what happened, did it simply fail and they open sourced it or is there something else in play here? Cool project either way though :)

JohnLBevan 13y ago
My guess is enterprises were scared of going the SaaS route; partly as this model is still relatively new, but mainly because companies like to keep their data in house (or at least need the option to easily get hold of a regular backup / with some way to quickly restore it should the vendor go under).
- treeio 13y ago
  Infrastructure costs. We had too many users on the free tier (5 users for free) and our server costs went through the roof. We didn't know how to find investment and my business partner needed cash so took a contract job.

Bjoern 13y ago

This reminds me of TeamBox (version 3 is also opensource).

X4 13y ago

Here's a video introducing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKhxzwO43k&list=UUBWJQIUhDQzrPn0Yi-6pgDw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKhxzwO43k&list=UUBWJQIUhDQz...