InfoWorld's top picks of the year in open source business applications and middleware The best open source applicationsWhile many of these application projects have been around for years, they have not been sitting still. They’ve been creating mobile-friendly front ends, adding POS (point of sale) capabilities, providing integrations with other systems, and invariably, expanding the deployment options with SaaS editions. You’ll find plenty that’s new in this year’s crop of open source apps.OdooFormerly OpenERP, this project recently changed its name to Odoo. Newly released, version 8 brings many improvements, including a website builder, e-commerce, online events, Google Calendar sync and alerts, new warehouse management, a new reporting engine, better BI and data analysis, POS (point of sale) hardware integration, a new API, live chat/email marketing, and social media integration. The improvements are ambitious, and there is already a road map for version 9, which promises localization of accounting functions.Built with Python, Odoo is completely Web-based and backed by a PostgreSQL database. You’ll find many add-on modules from Odoo and third parties. Commercial support is available from Odoo directly or from the many partners around the world who also provide implementation services. A fully functional, online version of the system is free for two users, providing a way to evaluate the system with your own data without a time limit or having to do any server installation. You can always upgrade or move the system in-house in the future.— Fred BlauerOpentapsOpentaps is a full-featured ERP and CRM system built on the Apache OFBiz framework. Several other companies have used the OFBiz framework to build customizable enterprise systems, but Opentaps is the most advanced and most mature. A number of large companies are running on this platform. The current stable version is 1.5.x, and the next-generation 2.x is under development. Currently only the CRM system is running on the 2.x platform.The project has released a free Google Mail extension that can pick up activities and contacts from a Gmail account, and integrates with the Opentaps ERP back end. It also supports integration with Magento eCommerce, and a SaaS-based analytics service is available for analyzing the ERP data. The system can be installed in-house or run from a virtual image on the Amazon cloud. There are various extensions in the commercial app store for enhanced financials, shipping integration, and training videos. Commercial support and services are available from project sponsor Open Source Strategies and its partners.— Fred BlauerTimeTrexTimeTrex is an open source payroll, employee scheduling, time and attendance, and job costing application. The standard edition is free, while the premium editions are open source but not free. All versions can be deployed either in-house or in the cloud. The payroll deduction calculations only support the United States and Canada.The system is fully Web-based and requires PHP 5.3 or greater and a MySQL or PostgreSQL database (if the server is installed locally). There is an online demo for evaluation purposes, and a functional cloud-based community version (standard edition) is available for free. This is a good way to evaluate the system with your own data, without financial commitments. You can always upgrade in the future.— Fred BlauerOrangeHRMOrangeHRM covers employee tracking, time and leave management, and payroll administration. It’s available in a free community version and commercially licensed professional and enterprise versions. All three versions support in-house and cloud installations. The main difference between community and commercial versions is the level of support and services, along with additional recruitment, performance review, training, and employee on/off boarding features in the commercial versions.OrangeHRM runs on a standard LAMP stack with the Symfony PHP framework. Commercial support is available directly from the company or from local partners. A plug-in marketplace covers a number of add-on modules from OrangeHRM and third parties including an integration with the xTuple ERP system. The community is large and active, and the solution is mature and reliable. A July release brought mostly enhancements to security and data management.— Fred BlauerBonita BPMBonita still paints the prettiest picture in open source BPM. The latest updates to the community edition included time-based tracking (to optimize process performance) and improved search, both nice enhancements, while the paid version added new premiums such as single sign-on, extended portal customization, and activity tweaking (to replay failed tasks, reassign cases, or reconfigure apps in process).Bonita BPM Studio provides visual tools for rule building, drag-and-drop process configuration, and form creation, along with a broad range of prefab process diagrams and best-practice templates that let you capitalize on common workflow patterns. You’ll also find good connectors to popular platforms such as Salesforce.com and SugarCRM.— James R. BorckRead about more open source winnersInfoWorld’s Best of Open Source Awards for 2014 celebrate more than 130 excellent open source projects in nearly every corner of computing. Follow these links to more open source winners:Bossie Awards 2014: The best open source applicationsBossie Awards 2014: The best open source application development softwareBossie Awards 2014: The best open source big data toolsBossie Awards 2014: The best open source data center and cloud softwareBossie Awards 2014: The best open source desktop and mobile softwareBossie Awards 2014: The best open source networking and security software Software DevelopmentOpen Source