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The Synodalsoft vision

Our software and documentation are designed to become a world-wide standard framework for developing sustainably free software applications. That’s admittedly a big vision. To put it very simly, we try to do what SAP does. With the « little » difference that we are a few developers while SAP has over 111,961 employees in 180 countries and is the largest non-American software company by revenue.

Collaboration principles

We believe that the optimal environment for developing software applications is when both the customer and the developer adhere to the following principles:

  • developing a website is a common work of both users and developers

  • both listen to each other carefully and speak openly

  • both feel co-responsible and do their best when facing challenges

  • both have equal voices when deciding about how to distribute effort and benefit

  • both want to share the fruit of their common work with other people, including future users and developers

Every software product and every website needs maintenance and causes a never-ending stream of work.

Design goals

Software applications made by Synodalsoft

  • are intuitive to understand for the end user because the developers and the users communicate efficiently.

  • are quick to develop because Lino encourages agile programming, rapid prototyping and short release cycles.

  • are flexible to maintain because Lino uses modern open-source technologies for testing and deployment.

  • are stable as rock once they satisfy your needs because there is no commercial pressure forcing you to upgrade.

  • are easy to share because Lino encourages a modular approach with libraries of highly reusable code.

Our long-term vision

Our long-term vision is that

  • Synodal Software is a library of common knowledge about how business is being done efficiently

  • Synodal Software is a standard part of every public IT education schedule.

  • a majority of application developers uses the Lino framework

Our creed

We are motivated by a common belief:

  • The free software world has already an operating system, an office suite, several good frameworks for developing web and desktop applications, and many other projects that are steadily gaining users.

  • But until now there is no sustainably free solution for developing customized database applications. The market for this business is dominated by a few proprietary giants.

  • We believe that the Lino framework has the potential of becoming a solution for this problem.

How Synodalsoft is different

Synodal Software combines the advantages of do-it-yourself with those of letting a professional do them. Synodalsoft solutions are « better than MS-Access for cheaper than SAP ».

Synodalsoft is a proof of the concept that professional software development leads to better results when governed by a developer who fosters sharing. We want our software to be available to everybody forever. We believe that the future belongs to Sustainably Free Software.

Synodal Software makes vendor lock-in legally impossible because both the source code and documentation are published as Sustainably Free Software. As a result, the provider isn’t tempted of locking their customers and the user is not afraid of getting locked.

Slow development: We deliberately follow an incremental, gentle and sustainable way towards our long-term vision.

Public Money? Public Code!

The Synodalsoft project can be seen as a proof of concept for the Public Money? Public Code! campaign led by the Free Software Foundation Europe.

Synodalsoft extends that concept by also targeting private corporations who adhere to the collaboration principles.