10 Reasons Why SAPUI5 Should Be On Github

[former_member182048]

As I sat watching all the innovative solutions at Innojam Bangalore, noticing that the majority of presentations had at least one SAPUI5 component, I couldn't help but think SAP are missing out on a big opportunity not making SAPUI5 Open Source. So in an attempt to convince others I (quickly) thought of 10 reasons why I think it’s a good idea.

1. Go To The Developers

No dis-respect to the SAP Service Market Place or developers.sap.com, developers and designers are more comfortable using repositories like github

2. Give Something Back

I know behind the scenes SAP does a lot of contributing to Open Source projects, but this would be showing real commitment

3. It Could Be So Much Beta

One of the first things I did when i installed version 1.8.4, was to make some of the changes I require for consuming Gateway services, it’s not sinking but it is leaky

4. We Could Be So Much Better

I am told internally there is a huge code snippet library, sharing how-tos, patterns and best practices; these should be publicly available!

5. Show Us Your Learning

For customers and developers there are a number of paradigm shifts at play with adopting SAPUI5. I think it’s important for us to see firsthand how you handle continuous change and how to recover quickly from mistakes

6. Give Users What They Really Want

By getting input from the community on code check-ins, bug fixes and new features, will not only mean users get to shape a better product, but developers will get access to the most up to date version of the source and the associated tests. What better way to encourage developers to start design thinking 

7. Better Tooling

Not every developer uses Eclipse, why should SAP develop and maintain plugins like Intellisense for Visual Studio and similar for Sublime Text 2, JetBrains etc. Better tooling = better adoption

8. Improved Innovation

SAPUI5 has been built to be extensible, it enables developers to create their own modules and adapt other JavaScript libraries. It’s a win-win encouraging others to share their tweaks, for example I have heard people suggest building asynchronous module loading (AMD), an integrated data mocking library, local browser storage for model data and bookmarking capabilities, all these are use case specific and can be developed outside of the main build and incorporated only if needed

9. Build An Ecosystem

If there is concern about lost revenue opportunities, what revenue are you getting today? Take a look at the markets around Twitter Bootstrap and Wordpress etc. and see potentially what you could be missing out on

10. ...Have Your Say

I am hoping that I have only just scratched the surface of the potential benefits of making SAPUI5 available as free open source software, please contribute and tell me what you think!