LibLime to Acquire Katipo Communications’ Koha Division

New time zone!
Cool! I’m sure acquiring the Koha division must add something other than a new time zone. Is it just me or is the rest of the library world just as under whelmed by open source integrated library systems? I really want this stuff to work but it always comes off as that half finished 2 liter bottle of coke put in the refrigerator on Wednesday and not opened again until Sunday.

It’s about time for me to take a fresh peek at Koha. Every time I look at this stuff it just annoys me. I so want it to be cool but no one seems to realize that an open source ILS needs to better commercial offerings. Equaling them is not enough, and no they do not equal them. Until the OSS companies hawking these products can answer the required questions on an RFP then it is just a silly game. Would Koha satisfy the most basic requirements for functionality on an RFP not written to give Koha an advantage? Lets not even consider financial stability requirements. I figure to get a performance bond someone at Koha has to pledge a house. Add all the developers and contributors you want but so far these things are state of the art circa 1995. I have looked pretty regularly for 5 years now at Koha and I can say they are 15 years away from matching the functionality offered by SD, III, TLC, or Polaris. For the record before you write me off as a proprietary ILS worshiping ass monkey I don’t like giving them money either.

What amuses me is when you listen to someone on one of these systems try to advocate. The most wonderful reasons I have heard are: ‘Its free’, ‘we can modify it’, ‘its standards compliant’, and the ever popular ‘we can talk to the developers’. Trust me having talked to developers its not that big a treat. I would rather talk to the guy who manages the developers and have him handle my ass kicking rather than get involved in theoretical discussions with people who say they understand libraries but have never performed the nuts and bolts of library functions.