E-Commerce For Mom & Pop

A Small Maine Company Uses Open Source Software to Help Mom & Pop" Businesses Sell Online.

Rockport, ME (PRWEB) December 22, 2003 --BLACKSUN networks, Inc. (www.blacksunnetworks.com), announced today the launch of a new E-commerce service that makes it quick and easy for small mom & pop" businesses to build online stores. Until now, many small businesses have been unable to sell online because of the substantial investment required. The expertise needed for the design and maintenance of online storefronts put them out of reach of the smallest businesses.

Recent advancements in open source software are now helping to level the playing field. Chris Dennison, Head Webmaster at BLACKSUN states, Without the availability of this new high quality open source software, there would be no way to offer these services so inexpensively. Several open source products have quickly matured into production capable alternatives. " Ask Dennison why is open source is so important and he quickly states, Because it's free."

That idea of free software is driving the popularity of the Linux operating system and other open source projects like OSCommerce, the shopping cart behind the BLACKSUN service, and OpenOffice.org, an office productivity suite similar to the popular Microsoft Office software.

While these applications are relatively new, open source is not. Most of the basic infrastructure of the Internet is based on open source, including; Apache - the software that runs over 50% of the world's web servers, sendmail -- the most important and widely used email transport software on the Internet, and Open SSL -- a method for encryption that makes shopping online safe.

Dennison says, Many of the big software companies are acting like the emperor with no clothes. They are pretending that open source doesn't matter, but it does. The truth is that you just can't ignore free."

Mike Czsonak, owner of Rock Coast Sports in Rockland Maine agrees, We are very excited about this. Weve wanted to sell online for years but just couldnt justify the investment. Now, for less than a cup of coffee a day, we can have a complete online store. It really is amazing."

About BLACKSUN networks, Inc.

BLACKSUN networks provides web hosting services to organizations around the world from offices in Rockport Maine. The company also provides additional IT services to Maine companies. Founded in 2001, BLACKSUN has seen steady and consistent growth by following its plan to provide customers with great service at a fair price.