A very interesting story has just appeared at Information Week - CRM Vendor Entellium Adopts Open-Source Strategy. It reports that Entellium is planning to release sections of their code as Open Source.

On one hand this is great news and shows that one more company has realised the advantages of Open Source software. On the other hand, it seems that Entellium is not willing to go all the way. A few different companies such as Salesforce.com have or are exploring different levels of Open Source compatibility, but they seem to have the same attitude as companies like Microsoft with their “Shared Source” program.

The only standout product out of all these types of offerings is SugarCRM. If the core engine of the CRM software system is still closed source, then users will still suffer from vendor lock-in and all the problems that that brings. So, it seems that Entellium and Salesforce.com want the best of both worlds. It probably can be achieved, but are users and companies really getting the advantages of Open Source? My other question is, will their customers realise the power and flexibility of Open Source and want more once they’ve had a taste?