Back in 2005, an ATOS survey found that 60 percent of businesses were planning to use some form of open source software in their business. Since that survey, open source software products have been widely adopted. Open source Web site development tools such as Joomla are common, and BT recently announced that it will be offering all of its clients the open source CRM system SugarCRM (News - Alert) rather than Siebel.

Kineo Open Source will offer open source products for Web site development, customer relationship management and learning including SugarCRM, Moodle and Joomla. Kineo partner Steve Rayson said they have appointed Mark Aberdour as Chief Executive of Kineo Open Source, citing Aberdour's "experience in open source software."

Aberdour said Kineo Open Source will offer "a range of services that allow organizations to adopt products such as SugarCRM at low cost and low risk," with professional support from Kineo, adding that "organizations can try all of our products at no cost for a trial period by going to our Web site."

In the coming months Kineo Open Source will issue "a wide range of free resources and guides for those considering open source products," company officials say.

 

In May, Kineo announced that Sharon Spencer was appointed as Kineo's Creative Director. The appointment was characterized at the time by company officials as "a step in Kineo's growth and continued focus on visual creativity in e-learning."

 

Spencer was Head of Art Direction at Epic, and also a Senior Design Manager for the Kingfisher group.