Baserow Challenges Airtable With an Open Source No-Code Database Platform (techcrunch.com) 19
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The burgeoning low-code and no-code movement is showing little sign of waning, with numerous startups continuing to raise sizable sums to help the less-technical workforce develop and deploy software with ease. Arguably one of the most notable examples of this trend is Airtable, a 10-year-old business that recently attained a whopping $11 billion valuation for a no-code platform used by firms such as Netflix and Shopify to create relational databases. In tandem, we're also seeing a rise in "open source alternatives" to some of the big-name technology incumbents, from Google's backend-as-a-service platform Firebase to open source scheduling infrastructure that seeks to supplant the mighty Calendly. A young Dutch company called Baserow sits at the intersection of both these trends, pitching itself as an open source Airbase alternative that helps people build databases with minimal technical prowess. Today, Baserow announced that it has raised $5.2 million in seed funding to launch a suite of new premium and enterprise products in the coming months, transforming the platform from its current database-focused foundation into a "complete, open source no-code toolchain," co-founder and CEO Bram Wiepjes told TechCrunch.
So what, exactly, does Baserow do in its current guise? Well, anyone with even the most rudimentary spreadsheet skills can use Baserow for use-cases spanning content marketing, such as managing brand assets collaboratively across teams; managing and organizing events; helping HR teams or startups manage and track applicants for a new role; and countless more, which Baserow provides pre-built templates for. [...] Baserow's open source credentials are arguably its core selling point, with the promise of greater extensibility and customizations (users can create their own plug-ins to enhance its functionality, similar to how WordPress works) -- this is a particularly alluring proposition for businesses with very specific or niche use cases that aren't well supported from an off-the-shelf SaaS solution. On top of that, some sectors require full control of their data and technology stack for security or compliance purposes. This is where open source really comes into its own, given that businesses can host the product themselves and circumvent vendor lock-in.
With a fresh 5 million euros in the bank, Baserow is planning to double down on its commercial efforts, starting with a premium incarnation that's officially launching out of an early access program later this month. This offering will be available as a SaaS and self-hosted product and will include various features such as the ability to export in different formats; user management tools for admin; Kanban view; and more. An additional "advanced" product will also be made available purely for SaaS customers and will include a higher data storage limit and service level agreements (SLAs). Although Baserow has operated under the radar somewhat since its official foundation in Amsterdam last year, it claims to have 10,000 active users, 100 sponsors who donate to the project via GitHub and 800 users already on the waiting list for its premium version. Later this year, Baserow plans to introduce a paid enterprise version for self-hosting customers, with support for specific requirements such as audit logs, single sign-on (SSO), role-based access control and more.
So what, exactly, does Baserow do in its current guise? Well, anyone with even the most rudimentary spreadsheet skills can use Baserow for use-cases spanning content marketing, such as managing brand assets collaboratively across teams; managing and organizing events; helping HR teams or startups manage and track applicants for a new role; and countless more, which Baserow provides pre-built templates for. [...] Baserow's open source credentials are arguably its core selling point, with the promise of greater extensibility and customizations (users can create their own plug-ins to enhance its functionality, similar to how WordPress works) -- this is a particularly alluring proposition for businesses with very specific or niche use cases that aren't well supported from an off-the-shelf SaaS solution. On top of that, some sectors require full control of their data and technology stack for security or compliance purposes. This is where open source really comes into its own, given that businesses can host the product themselves and circumvent vendor lock-in.
With a fresh 5 million euros in the bank, Baserow is planning to double down on its commercial efforts, starting with a premium incarnation that's officially launching out of an early access program later this month. This offering will be available as a SaaS and self-hosted product and will include various features such as the ability to export in different formats; user management tools for admin; Kanban view; and more. An additional "advanced" product will also be made available purely for SaaS customers and will include a higher data storage limit and service level agreements (SLAs). Although Baserow has operated under the radar somewhat since its official foundation in Amsterdam last year, it claims to have 10,000 active users, 100 sponsors who donate to the project via GitHub and 800 users already on the waiting list for its premium version. Later this year, Baserow plans to introduce a paid enterprise version for self-hosting customers, with support for specific requirements such as audit logs, single sign-on (SSO), role-based access control and more.
So it's Microsoft Access / Libreoffice Base? (Score:4, Insightful)
So what, exactly, does Baserow do in its current guise? Well, anyone with even the most rudimentary spreadsheet skills can use Baserow for use-cases spanning content marketing, such as managing brand assets collaboratively across teams; managing and organizing events; helping HR teams or startups manage and track applicants for a new role; and countless more, which Baserow provides pre-built templates for.
This sounds a lot like MS Access / LO Base. Only less database planning and more click and place the data wherever. I'd imagine in a few years there's going to be a lot of people trying to figure out how to get their data out of this thing. (Assuming they aren't already.)
users can create their own plug-ins to enhance its functionality, similar to how WordPress works
Nope, let me fix that. Responsible People are trying to get their data out NOW. The last thing the world needed was a WordPress clone. Please at least tell me that they didn't put an easily hacked marketplace up for it...
businesses with very specific or niche use cases that aren't well supported from an off-the-shelf SaaS solution. ... This offering will be available as a SaaS and self-hosted product
So it's target audience won't be able to use it then? Not much of a sound business strategy there...
This is where open source really comes into its own, given that businesses can host the product themselves and circumvent vendor lock-in.
What's with the OSS comment? OSS cannot help you circumvent vendor lock-in if you rely on a SaaS provider to run it. The remainder of TFA is a slashvertisement for their SaaS offering. So I'm doubtful about their export ability being kept for very long.
I'm all for people getting into software development, but getting into it without any attempt at learning to code is still effectively relying on someone else's software / platform. Bias? I see you saw my username.
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What's with the OSS comment? OSS cannot help you circumvent vendor lock-in if you rely on a SaaS provider to run it. The remainder of TFA is a slashvertisement for their SaaS offering. So I'm doubtful about their export ability being kept for very long.
It actually can, the fact that you can self host (or pay another party to host for you) will mean that if this company stops providing the service, or gets too expensive or you want to stop doing business them for some other reason, you have options. That also means they have to remain competitive.
I'm all for people getting into software development, but getting into it without any attempt at learning to code is still effectively relying on someone else's software / platform. Bias? I see you saw my username.
This is not for people getting in to software development. As far as I can tell, MS Excel is one of the most used tools in business. Some more advanced users use MS Access. It serves a purpose but, especially for
MS Access by another name? (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't we go through this cycle with Microsoft Access? Customers wanted to manage their own databases without needing to work with the enterprise DBAs to design a real database, and Access gave them that capability. And then all those home-brew Access databases became business-critical and the demands for security, data integrity and reliability kicked in and suddenly everyone was violently made aware of why those DBAs who'd been bypassed had been hired in the first place.
It's the Circle of (Software) Life.
Re:MS Access by another name? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm thinking more along the lines of Filemaker Pro, which was an amazing piece of software back in the day. Low/no code works really well when you understand everything going on under the hood.
You can reliably spot alien visitors by whether they like Filemaker or not. Earthlings want nothing to do with it. Aliens who desire to stunt the development of humanity tout it as an amazing piece of software.
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Sounds like a great way to add technical debt to your company.
One place I worked had so many little Access fiefdoms spread throughout different departments and business units it that took years (and probably millions of dollars) to crush them all and finally get the data and work flow refactored into one coherent system so it was actually possible to do proper P&L reports (among other things) for the whole business.
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I hate the new age term "technical debt". But, you're absolutely right.
A few years ago my department was getting so many demands that we take over, fix, and support so many of these little Access/VB/FileMaker "solutions" that our director made a deal with the business units. We helped them move their data into SQLServer and rewrote their front-ends as webapps and the business units agreed not to make any more. Data was moved, front-ends written, dogs and cats started living together, all was right with the
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Those Access kludges do serve one purpose: they let the people who know what's actually needed for the job shake down the requirements before submitting the specs for a proper solution. The trick is to get them to accept that Access isn't a way to create a solution, it's a tool for creating and testing a prototype before handing it over to the experts to use as a reference while creating a real solution. Access is to a real database and front-end application what a breadboard and discrete components are to
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You are correct. And that's pretty much what they agreed to. Then their management and personnel moved on to other positions and new people came in to replace them. When said agreement was brought up their group admitted they were aware of it but argued it was something "they" (past manager and staff) agreed to but "we" (current manager and staff) didn't so it doesn't apply.
Yes, I work around people who think arguments a 5-year-old would make are acceptable coming from adults.
BCNF FTW (Score:3)
I imagine making database schemas into a tellytubbies themed point-and-click exercise for the untrained isn't going to make transitive dependency woes and inconsistent table entries go away.
I don't often design databases, but when I do, I crack out my copy of Codd I've had since college 30 years ago.
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I don't often design databases....
I design databases every day. There has never been a tool that eliminated the 80/20 rule: a tool will get you 80% of the way to what you want, and completely block your ability to design the remaining 20% that is the lynchpin of your operation.
You will then need to hire a competent database designer who will unavoidably need to scrap the garbage that was generated by the tool. I have no reason to believe this time is any different.
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I don't often design databases....
I design databases every day. There has never been a tool that eliminated the 80/20 rule: a tool will get you 80% of the way to what you want, and completely block your ability to design the remaining 20% that is the lynchpin of your operation.
You will then need to hire a competent database designer who will unavoidably need to scrap the garbage that was generated by the tool. I have no reason to believe this time is any different.
My experience has mirrored yours. - *Oh wifey needs a database (she has a business) to do X. Much time has passed since the last time - I bet there's a nice tool that knows how to construct the tables and transforms better than I do* Then I find the tools never quite can grok it and a few minutes with pen and paper do the trick, followed by cursing at the SQL syntax for a bit.
How to build a disaster: (Score:3)
1. Remove technical people from the loop.
2. Build something technical using advance tools.
3. Wait for it to fail and/or need modification/maintenance.
Sounds like building a desk out of LEGOs (Score:3, Insightful)
Most simplification projects fail, not because SQL or Java or C# or the more popular choices are too hard to use, but because people who get tempted by these sort of things are anything but methodical.
IMO, the same applies to python and node.js. They are designed to reduce barriers for less motivated individuals to contribute code. If you're not motivated enough to learn Java, C++, Go, C#, kotlin, scala, or the myriad of superior languages, what's the probability you're going to meticulously design your application in an easy language? What's the probability you'll use industry-standard frameworks so your application can be handed off to another author and they can pick up where you left off easily? What's the probability you'll carefully consider long-term maintenance needs and changing requirements? What's the probability you'll consider data security? What's the probability you'll document your code like a professional so people know what you're doing and why?
Exquisite work can be done in any tool, but it's no accident that most great work is not done in tools designed to be easy to use and to eliminate the need to learn how things are done today.
Building software is a craft. Many geniuses mistakenly think it's something a sufficiently smart person with little experience can do successfully, but it's not. A smart and motivated person can make something that works today. A career professional, like myself, can design something that works today and is easier to maintain tomorrow, is less likely to lead to a data breach, is going to last long and cost less long-term. Not enough respect is given to this as an occupation...something one learns over a period of time...something that is actually quite mundane and not as creative as it seems.
I can't imagine any coding simplification tool not repeating the mistakes of its predecessors. I am skeptical this technology will be successful or produce good products.
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MS Access, Ruby on Rails, Grails, Visual Basic...these are all products that tried to make something technical simple. They all are more or less considered unsuccessful and problematic.
That doesn't match my experience at all. By any measure, all of those things were successful. Ruby on Rails and Groovy on Grails are probably the least successful of the lot and while they didn't catch the world on fire, to call them unsuccessful seems unreasonable. They're really not the kind of thing this article is about though.
You might not remember this, but it wasn't uncommon in the early 90's to see job postings asking for experience in BASIC -- old, unstructured, teach yourself BASIC. There's a
Ironically reducing barriers is bad (Score:2)
What we should be doing instead is empowering users so that they can make better things. I once saw someone use a spreadsheet for basic accounting without using any of the calculation features. He used a hand calculator to total columns. He used to use notepad until someone told him to use Excel instead. Had someone just taken 20 minutes to get him up to speed, they'd have saved him countless hours of tedious effort.
I agree in theory. I hate gatekeeping, but the last 20 years have taught me I'm wrong about that. Look at the web. My dipshit cousin is too stupid to crack open a book on HTML and put up a website, so his stupid ideas were kept to those unfortunate to be in the same room as him, but facebook has enabled him not only to publish his stupid anti-vaccine views that nearly killed his mother (my aunt), but get a larger audience than most smart people ever would have gotten with their webpages in the last 90s o
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Empower stupid people and bad things will happen
If they're going to make a mess anyway, and they are, isn't it better to get them washable markers and setup a play space?
They will build their own solutions, no matter how hard we try to keep sharp tools away from them. Think of "no code" solutions as a harm reduction strategy.
Besides, none of us are born competent. Would you be where you are now if you weren't allowed to play with matches?
Facebook has enabled him not only to publish his stupid anti-vaccine views
I've lost family to that insanity as well. I don't have the solution, but I do know that Facebook could limit the d
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I've done CRUD database stuff for years now. I have looked and looked at "easy" stuff over the years. Almost every single thing I have looked at over the years, it's "easy" until the first time you need to do something difficult, then it isn't.
That said, Visual Basic in the .Net world compiles to the same bitecode as C#. I now hate working with VB, but it can do pretty much anything C# can do. It's just more wordy. In some blocks of code, there isn't much difference between VB and C# code.
MS Access is a fin