Despite the web 2.0 and cloud computing craze most online services are about taking notes or sharing 140 character posts. Springbase is however an interesting application from a business and developer stand-point. In short Springbase is an alternative to Zoho Creator, it has less features but behaves a lot more like Microsoft Access.
The licensing agreement in Springbase is very favorable; it is free for developers and costs for businesses when the application grows in volume.
Compared to Zoho Creator Springbase has very few features. However it makes it very simple to create a database quickly and integrate it into an existing website. For example I created a contacts database in just 15 minutes. Of course it helps if you have worked in Microsoft Access a lot before, since the interface in Springbase works the same way. The properties window is the same as in the Microsoft product, but with fewer options. The Table, Query, Report and Page sections are also influenced by Access. Springbase also has a pretty neat tab-system, which makes it easy to change between tables, queries and reports.
If you or the company you are working for have an old Microsoft Access application lying around it is possible to import it into Springbase. The feature works but the database imported can sometimes be altered, for example after importing a database with a table with one ID column Springbase added an additional ID column. The Databases in Springbase can be edited by several administrators; it is possible to invite additional people to the database easily.
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As with most other cloud computing applications it is not clear if the data uploaded to Springbase is secured. Since Springbase is not as well known and does not appear to have any backing of big Internet players, it has to be considered a risk to use it for business critical applications.
A great thing for Springbase would be to take advantage of other cloud computing services, such as Amazon S3. Then the data security issues would be gone. However Springbase is very good for putting up a database fast and also for experimenting with databases. It could also be used in an educational setting as it resembles Microsoft Access and the OpenOffice alternative, but requires no installation or licensing.
WOS stands for Web server on Stick, which is pretty much what it is. To some people this product might seem a bit unnecessary but if you are a web-developer using PHP and Apache WOS is a godsend.
WOS emulates an Apache and MySQL server on any USB-stick. The installation process is easy; CH Software has developed an online wizard called the WOS Mixer that helps you through it. When using the mixer you will be asked if you want to update your existing WOS-package or make a new one. After that a list comes up with a bunch of GPL-software, there is a lot of server stuff such as Apache 2, MySQL 5 and PHP 4 or 5. The list also contains a number of CMS-systems such as MediaWiki, Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, TYPO 3 and WordPress.
The wizard then creates a downloadable .zip file, after the download extract the zip-file and follow the on-screen instructions. If everything goes well your USB-stick will then work as a web-server with several CMS-systems installed.
It is also easy to import database copies from other sites into WOS (using PHPMyAdmin), when importing a whole site structure remember to change config settings so that the paths reflect the ones on the USB-stick.
When WOS is installed it is simply a matter of running the executable on the USB-stick. The software has a number of options, but nothing too spacey. It is possible to set the URL that is typed in the browser to reach the WOS-server. There are also some options that clear all Apache and MySQL logs when WOS is ended. WOS Portable II can also receive updates and it even has a backup feature if you want to backup the databases.
Carrying WOS Portable II around is a breeze, I have tried it for several months and it always impresses clients when it is possible to show the actual sites almost ready with server-side scripting and all. This is also a good product if you run servers or large-scale websites where you want one platform to test things on before releasing them publicly. WOS works perfectly in Firefox and Internet Explorer, it might work in other browsers as well but I have not been able to test. It also works on Windows XP/Vista and Linux.
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