Is it worth it?

[SmoothAl]

Hello all,

 

I'm sorry if my title doesn't seem very supportive, but I've been looking at many of the posts in the "Installation" section and I see lots of problems and people being very confused. It makes me a little concerned about implementing osCommerce into one of my client's websites. Can someone shed some light on the positives of osCommerce, please? And give me some insight on possibilities of experiencing real issues.

 

I will say that I have some loyalty to osCommerce, as it was a company I briefly studied back when I had a project regarding E-Commerce in school. It seemed to be the name that stuck in my head.

 

Be honest, please.

 

Thank you.

 

SmoothAl B)

[Jack_mcs]

It is a fully functional shopping cart. It offers the same capabilities as paid-for shops that costs $500/year, or more. It does all of that for free! The downside is that it is difficult for someone not familiar with it to get used to it. It is by no means impossible though since just about everyone using it started from the same place of not knowing anything about it. The installation procedure is quite easy but it requires one to know things about the server that many do not know, thus the problems you see. Your host probably has an option to install it from their control panel. While it won;t be the most recent code, it makes the install even easier. Once the shop is up and running, then you can play around with it and decide for yourself.

 

Jack

[bill110]

It is a fully functional shopping cart. It offers the same capabilities as paid-for shops that costs $500/year, or more. It does all of that for free! The downside is that it is difficult for someone not familiar with it to get used to it. It is by no means impossible though since just about everyone using it started from the same place of not knowing anything about it. The installation procedure is quite easy but it requires one to know things about the server that many do not know, thus the problems you see. Your host probably has an option to install it from their control panel. While it won;t be the most recent code, it makes the install even easier. Once the shop is up and running, then you can play around with it and decide for yourself.

 

Jack

Take a look under the network tab at the top of this page in the live shops directory to see what others have been able to do with this software.

The fact that there are so many posts also is a testament to how many are using it. Go to a paid for cart and see how much support you can get for free. And would you be able to legally change code to suit your needs. The contributions section is full of even more free ways to change the appearance and operation of your shop.

Like anything else it is only as good as the amount of time you are willing to invest. I knew nothing of PHP when I started and am now addicted to the forums.

Good luck.

[shooter-boy]

If you are willing to learn and give it a go, you will love it.

 

You won't find any software that doesn't have installation issues. There are so many configurations and platforms out there that an installation package cannot possibly account for all possibilities.

 

There are few (if any) problems that don't have an answer on these boards, and I honestly don't think you can get a better community for developing and troubleshooting.

 

Rob