OsCommerce (styled "osCommerce" - "open source Commerce") is an e-commerce software solution. It can be used on any web server that has PHP and MySQL installed. It is available as free software under the GNU General Public License.

osCommerce
Original author(s)osCommerce Project Team
Developer(s)osCommerce Ltd
Stable release
4.13 / 13 October 2023; 5 months ago (2023-10-13)[1]
RepositoryosCommerce Repository
Written inPHP
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeWebshop
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websiteoscommerce.com

History edit

OsCommerce was started in March 2000 in Germany by Harald Ponce de Leon. The open source project was known as The Exchange Project. In its infancy, osCommerce was referred to by Ponce de Leon as "a side thing" and "an example research study". By late 2001, a team formed for its development and in the words of Harald Ponce de Leon, this was the point the team started taking the project seriously.[2][unreliable source?] By 2005, over 2000 websites used osCommerce,[3] and in 2009 this amount grew to 13,000.[4] As of January 2024, BuiltWith[5] reported 39,734 currently live sites using osCommerce.

In 2021, the Holbi Group purchased osCommerce from Ponce De Leon and announced their intention to create 4.x. Its release was eventually scheduled for March 2022, however it was delayed due to the war in Ukraine.

On 16 November 2021, osCommerce v4 Beta 1 was released to the limited number of Beta testers [6]

osCommerce v4 Beta 2 was released on 26 January 2022 to multiple Beta testers [7]

osCommerce v4 Public demo was released on 1 June 2022 [8]

osCommerce v4 was released as a free shopping cart and open source Ecommerce platform on 25 July 2022[9] Major differences from the old versions was the use of the latest server software, separation of code and design, osCommerce App Shop and Apps (free and paid), introduction of multiple sale channels, multiple design templates, built in WYSIWYG editor.[citation needed]

Official Version edit

The current version is 4.0.

Previous versions and Add Ons for them were removed from osCommerce.com as they were made obsolete.

Release date Release name
12 March 2000 The Exchange Project Preview Release 1.0
14 May 2000 The Exchange Project Preview Release 1.1
2 December 2000 The Exchange Project Preview Release 2.0
13 December 2000 The Exchange Project Preview Release 2.0a
6 March 2001 The Exchange Project Preview Release 2.1
17 February 2003 osCommerce 2.2 Milestone 1
7 December 2003 osCommerce 2.2 Milestone 2
12 November 2005 osCommerce 2.2 Milestone 2 Update 051112
13 November 2005 osCommerce 2.2 Milestone 2 Update 051113
17 August 2006 osCommerce 2.2 Milestone 2 Update 060817
3 July 2007 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.2 RC1
16 January 2008 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.2 RC2
30 January 2008 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.2 RC2a
12 November 2010 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.3
14 November 2010 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.3.1
31 March 2011 osCommerce Online Merchant 3.0 (development)
6 August 2011 oCommerce Online Merchant 3.0.2 (development)
18 July 2012 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.3.2
15 August 2012 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.3.3
26 September 2013 OoCommerce Online Merchant 2.3.3.4
5 June 2014 osCommerce Online Merchant 2.3.4
18 August 2017 OsCommerce Online Merchant 2.3.4.1
25 July 2022 osCommerce 4.0
21 September 2022 osCommerce 4.05
26 October 2022 osCommerce 4.07
9 December 2022 osCommerce 4.08
23 February 2023 osCommerce 4.09
28 February 2023 osCommerce 4.10
3 March 2023 osCommerce 4.11
13 October 2023 osCommerce 4.13

Branches edit

Distributed under the GNU General Public License, osCommerce is one of the earliest PHP based Open Source shopping cart software distributions.[10] It inspired the creation of many other online store platforms, such as Magento.[11] It has also spawned a number of forks, such as Zen Cart, xt:Commerce, oscMAX and Phoenix.[12]

Publicised vulnerabilities (old versions) edit

In August 2011 three vulnerabilities in version 2.2 of the osCommerce system were exploited, allowing the addition of an iframe and JavaScript code to infect visitors to websites. Armorize reports this allowed infected web pages to hit 90,000 in a very short time until it was noticed and increasing further to 4.5 million pages within the space of a week.

OsCommerce 2.3 was made available in November 2011 and patched the exploited security holes.[13][14]

When the demand for a responsive version of osCommerce 2.3 increased, community members took it upon themselves to develop one. Often referred to as osCommerce 2.3 (BS), it later evolved into a fork called Phoenix Cart.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Releases · osCommerce". Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  2. ^ "osCommerce – a brief history and a look at the features". Mays Digital. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. ^ Rich, Jason R. (2005). Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online. Unofficial Guides. Vol. 155 (2 ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780471792277.
  4. ^ Kimball, Cheryl (2009). Design and Launch an Online Gift Business in a Week. ClickStart Series. Entrepreneur Press. p. 78. ISBN 9781613081129.
  5. ^ "Builtwith". Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  6. ^ "osCommerce v4 Beta 1". osCommerce Community Forum. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  7. ^ "osCommerce v4 Beta 2". osCommerce Community Forum. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  8. ^ "osCommerce v4 Public Demo; release coming soon!". www.oscommerce.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  9. ^ "osCommerce v4 release". www.oscommerce.com. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  10. ^ "osCommerce: Copyright Policy". Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  11. ^ "Magento eCommerce Review". dwacommerce.com. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  12. ^ "CE Phoenix Cart eCommerce Software". Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Millions of osCommerce stores hacked - the H Open: News and Features". www.h-online.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  14. ^ "StopTheHacker | osCommerce Attacks". www.stopthehacker.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

Further reading edit

  • Watson, Kerry. The osCommerce Technical Manual. Victoria, BC Canada: On Demand Manuals. pp. 11–14 ISBN 1-4120-3733-6.
  • Gurevych, Vadym . osCommerce Webmaster's Guide to Selling Online. Birmingham, UK: Packt Publishing. p. 2 ISBN 1-84719-202-5.

External links edit