Eli Foner

A few months ago Paul Scrivens (of 9rules fame) asked what it would take to copy Basecamp (and 37 Signals' other offerings). Enter activeCollab - let's check it out.

We all like to be (or at least think that we are) organized. And at some point throughout the day, most of us use a tool (anything from that folded piece of paper in our pocket all the way up to dedicated corporate Exchange servers) to accomplish this. Since we are all 'managers' or 'clients' in some varying capacity, I'm going to take a giant leap in assuming that we all share at least a basic knowledge and understanding of Project Management (PM) software and its goal(s). If you've never heard of (good time to climb out from under that rock) or had a chance to play with 37 Signals' excellent Basecamp PM product, now would be a good time to give it a go (free account creation allows most functionality) - play around a bit - then continue reading, as this comparison and review of activeCollab is largely based on the Basecamp feature set. Continue Reading ...

Basecamp

As someone who likes to keep my applications installed locally, my first impressions of Basecamp were: 1) Full-Featured, 2) Simple, 3) Pretty, and 4) Can I host and run it on my own server? As most of you know, the answers are: 1) Yes, 2) Yes, 3) Yes, 4) No. Unfortunately for those developer-types out there, Basecamp is strictly built to be a hosted web application. Meaning the domain name you give clients won't be yours but rather one of 5 predetermined domains (updatelog.com, clientsection.com, seework.com, grouphub.com, projectpath.com). Some of us like to keep things all grouped together on our domain for ease of use (and aesthetics, as you can completely customize the look and feel) .

So as not to reinvent the wheel, this is by no means a review of Basecamp. It's a useful product by a well-known company, but enough information is at your disposal (including that shiny new free account you just signed up for) to make an informed decision to integrate Basecamp (or any PM software) into your daily workflow. I'm not here to convince you to get organized.

I AM here, however, to place the spotlight on Basecamp's evil open-source twin named activeCollab. So let's get started, shall we?

activeCollab

Requirements:
activeCollab requires PHP5 (and a MySQL DB) to run. If you are not sure if your hosting company has this capability, ask them (or if you can't reach them or don't want to wait, you can always try as the worst thing that can happen is that it won't work).

I spoke with (mt) yesterday and they are 8wks out from deploying it throughout the Shared-Server environment. Dreamhost currently supports PHP5, you need to specify it in the "Domains -> Manage Domains" submenu.

DB Setup
Installation is quick and easy assuming you have a basic knowledge around your hosting company's administration panel. First thing, create the location that you will use to install activeCollab; i.e. subdomain, directory, new domain. Then create a DB (or use an existing one, which I don't recommend for a few reasons) for activeCollab to use. Take note of your Host Name, DB Name, DB Username and PW as you will need these values shortly

Download
Now download the zip file to your local environment, unpack, and upload this wherever you want activeCollab to reside. Then CHMOD 666 the following directories: cache, config, public.

Install
You will then point your browser to the /install directory within the structure you created (i.e. http://yourdomain.com/activecollab/install or http://collab.yourdomain.com/install) Configure the installer making sure to include the DB information you gathered earlier.

In case you don't have access to PHP5 (or any server, for that matter), I've installed activeCollab up as a sandbox for your enjoyment at http://collab.betafid.com. Login with the username: demo and password: d3mo.

Screencast:

I've decided to do my first screencast ever today with activeCollab. Check it out and drop me a line to tell me your thoughts. I know it was a rush job and I stuttered and said "Uh" alot but it's harder than it looks .. if you haven't tried podcasting or speaking to an audience, I recommend you do so, if for nothing else than improving your tone, tempo, pitch, and pace.

That's all for now, enjoy.

activeCollab Site
Basecamp Site
Wisdump The original post by Paul Scrivens