Chapter 29. You can get something for nothing: free, open-source social networks

Tony and Emma are colleagues at a large company in Colorado who yearn to start their own small business focusing on their true passion: skiing. Emma, a senior product manager, is the visionary of the two and came up with the idea of a social networking site for skiers. Not only could they create a fun, friendly community for fellow skiers, they also could profit from the venture by selling ski-related products, travel packages, sponsorships, and advertising. There’s only one problem: They don’t have much money to spend on their venture.

Tony works as a Java developer and is eager to use open-source software such as Ruby on Rails, Joomla, Drupal, or PHPizabi to develop ...

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