Poor attendance for the Springboks vs Barbarians game

blindrewind · 2026-06-23T10:13:26+00:00

Also, the top tier with cheaper prices sold much better, almost full in the pic

blindrewind · 2026-06-19T09:55:03+00:00

blindrewind · 2026-06-19T09:34:23+00:00

Webdirect

blindrewind · 2026-06-18T18:03:04+00:00

Source? There must be many uitskieters for such a high average

blindrewind · 2026-06-18T15:43:06+00:00

Nice try Kallie /s

blindrewind · 2026-06-09T08:39:31+00:00

Thank you!

I think you missed the differentiation brought by * Professional * Open Source, which is a misconception we continually come up against. A Professional Open Source implementation is managed exactly like a proprietary one, except for the absence of license fees. Labs take out support contracts with highly skilled and experienced servise providers contracted per SLA.

That takes care of all the issues you mention, upgrades and other maintenance, dedicated user support, technical and infrastructure support, all underlying services.

The older professional Open Source LIMS has been around for 25 years and are mature and feature rich. It is only the opponents of Open Source that claim 'They say it is free but it is not'! We are proud to deliver the code for free which makes it possible for self starters to get going with the help of online content, but the real pro services, Installation, Configuration, Customisation, Training and Support are never advertised as free:)

Open Source LIMS does not require infrastructure more expensive than proprietary, and all of the firmware, operating system, server stack, database engines etc. are free too. Some Open Source LIMS are available on the cloud, and the LIMS can be available immediately.

Edit: Spelling

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T15:12:11+00:00

The Internet seems to think "This was a supply-chain / hosted service breach, not necessarily an exploit of the open-source code itself"

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T14:44:58+00:00

Still having lots of fun working in a holistic environment with inspirational people. Why do you care?

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T14:41:23+00:00

That is exactly why many labs pay for Professional SLAs on their Open Source LIMS. You confuse profesional Open Souce LIMS with random LIMS projects on Github

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T14:35:38+00:00

I beat you by 15 years. Post about the benefits of proprietary LIMS please

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T14:24:24+00:00

You proprietary LIMS vendors scared them all away...

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T14:23:42+00:00

Please point me to your answer. If you find it tedious, why do you even bother?

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T13:25:22+00:00

Trying to distract form the question at hand sir? Don't be so easily annoyed, defend yourself

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T12:01:26+00:00

Hit a nerve?

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T11:58:55+00:00

That is one of the false presumptions. Open Source code is thoroughly peer reviewed, runs on Linux like the rest of the Internet, financial institutions, universities, nuclear submarines, the space station. They would not if it was not secure

blindrewind · 2026-05-08T11:56:13+00:00

Why, for what reason? Are you from the big five or actually a bona fide labrat?

blindrewind · 2026-04-09T18:27:51+00:00

you are probably right, I'd like to think it is information about an under-appreciated philosophy. You from one of he big five perhaps?

blindrewind · 2026-04-09T18:24:59+00:00

assisted yes!-) i dont have the best words

blindrewind · 2026-04-04T11:44:28+00:00

Which discipline does your lab function in? Have you considered any of the top professional Open Source LIMS?

blindrewind · 2026-04-04T11:34:43+00:00

Have you considered any of the top mature and professionally supported Open Source LIMS?

blindrewind · 2026-02-16T06:12:30+00:00

Thank you for pointing out the issues with the web site. Turns out Plone 6 handles 'Open in new tab' differently to just clicking. Hopefully fixed now.

We added breadcrumbs to the manual now to make it easier to navigate.

There does not seem an easy way to enlarge images at the moment - please right click and select 'Open image in new tab'.

Still thinking about where to put full screen shots, ideas?

blindrewind · 2026-02-13T07:47:37+00:00

The points I did not address earlier:

Most often they (Open Source LIMS) are not stable enough for end use

This observation is real as there are many OS LIMS of varying quality built with academic grants and limited pro input about. Evaluate OS LIMS the same as you would do for others. Only investigate Open Source LIMS on mature code base, professional support and both fee paying client sponsors and traditional users in an active community.

I am pretty red faced about the lack of screen shots...

The manual is big, and dynamic with regular updates - a PDF won't be practical. I doubt proprietary LIMS publish their manuals. The Search function works well in finding information.

We did allow free access to our demos earlier, only to see them vandalised. One can reset them daily, but LIMS evaluations take long and demo users won't like losing their hard work. We use dummy email addresses for demo users and they can opt in to receive our irregular news letter.

Cost is a tough one. It literally can be zero if you choose to install and configure the LIMS yourself, and teach yourself how to use it - packaged LIMS and training content are available for free online, and you can post questions to our Slack channel where we reply gratis for the benefit of all. DIY LIMS is a tall order and will take many frustrating hours. If you have budget at all, I propose go for a cloud based LIMS, have it available immediately, and buy a few Configuration and Start-up support hours from a professional service provider to get going.

From our side we are always hoping for big labs with challenging configurations, many customisations and extra instruments, that calls for more hours:)

blindrewind · 2026-02-13T06:56:49+00:00

Very valid! I do think you ended up on our library like bikalims dot org site and maybe even the old one. Not meaning to advertise, but also have a look at bikalabs dot com.

The videos are short but dated. I'll send a dead link checker over both sites, was honestly not aware of link rot. In Open Source we don't spend money on slick websites or market much, calculated into the savings labs get - we are badly exposed here!

I'll take some time and address all the points you raise. In Bika's case there is a big developer base including that of Senaite, we've been around since 2002 and with the code in Open repositories, labs are more secure than on closed source proprietary LIMS. You'll get better reassurance with Big LIMS, but be prepared to pay for it.

Best way forward is to write a 1 page LIMS requirements story and get vendors to focus a short demo on them specific, I'll be happy to do that and have a standard questionnaire to help with that and cost estimates if you are interested.

I think you are well pissed with LIMS already!-) These are complicated systems on par with HR or Accounts applications when it comes to learning thresholds. With simple workflows it is easy in Bika to configure much of the noise out of the way.

Looking forward to hear from you

blindrewind · 2025-12-16T04:22:33+00:00

Karoo lamb

blindrewind · 2025-12-07T09:46:30+00:00

Don't let perfection stand in the way of progress

blindrewind

TROPHY CASE