Quite frequently I need to locate an app to perform some task and the only way to really try it is to install a virtual machine of some OS flavor and then labor through installing the app.  In the case of clockingIT a project management web app it was severely painful.

The app is cool but a schism seems to have occurred between the original developer and the most active current developer.  In the 2 weeks I have been tinkering with it the newest fellow has finally come out and said, he agreed it was difficult to install but that his was installed and he really would prefer some help from someone else to create an installer for the masses.  The adventure of getting it to work led me to discover an alternate web app called redmine, and it led me to Bitnami.

So what is Bitnami?  From their website:

Free, easy to setup wikis, blogs, forums and many other web applications that you can run locally or in the cloud. BitNami makes deploying server software a simple and enjoyable process.

In a short alternate description, it is someone else who has done all the heavy lifting of getting over 25 different popular opensource apps to install easily in either a native installer, or a virtual one.  If you were ever interested in playing with a web tool but couldn’t get it to work.  Check them out, you will be glad you did.  And did I mention the tools are open source, so if you find something you like, your probably free to implement it as you wish.