Biomedical Engineering Reference
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write their own extensions to KNIME by using the public API. Once
packaged appropriately - either as ZIP fi les or as online update sites -
users can quickly install (and uninstall) them into their existing KNIME
installation by using the graphical update manager.
6.2 The KNIME success story
As already mentioned, KNIME initially started as a university project
with a group of four people. One advantage about this kind of project is
that it is relatively easy to fi nd developers in the form of PhD students or
student assistants who invest considerable amounts of time on the project.
In the case of KNIME, one of the four people had already gained several
years' experience as a professional software developer. However, it still
took more than two years before the fi rst version was ready for the public
(28 July 2006). One big disadvantage of many university projects is the
sustainability of the project: when developers leave - because they have
graduated - they can only spend little if any time on further development,
which often leads to the death of the project. There are two ways out of
this dilemma. One way round this problem is to attract a large number
of developers outside the group right from the beginning to ensure that
when one developer leaves, another developer is there to step in and
continue with the work. This, however, usually only works for very
wide-spread projects such as the Linux kernel, the Apache web server, or
the Secure Shell, for example. Another solution to the problem is to
found a commercial company to take care of and continue with further
development. A combination of both is possible of course.
For KNIME, the second option, the foundation of KNIME.com [2] in
2008, proved to be strategic to its success. Once the key people from the
university group had completed their PhD, they switched to the company.
Besides being in charge of further development of the open source
KNIME core, the KNIME.com team is currently developing commercial
extensions such as a KNIME server and cluster execution components.
Another important focus of the company is to provide training courses
for users and developers as well as support in case of problems. The
university group continues to develop new nodes based on current
research topics. Both parties collaborate well and ensure that the basic
KNIME functionality is extended and new analysis methods are added.
Even though about 15 people are currently working on KNIME in
both groups, it is obvious that they cannot develop solutions for all kinds
of applications areas nor do they have the means to develop all the
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