PRESS RELEASE

Of interest to editors and journalists covering: 
Business/Finance, Retail, DotCom/Internet, Software, Maine Business 


E-Commerce For Mom & Pop Shops

A Small Maine Company Uses Open Source Software to Help Mom & Pop
Businesses Sell Online

ROCKPORT, Maine - Dec. 22, 2003 /Send2Press Newswire/ -- BLACKSUN
networks, Inc. (www.blacksunnetworks.com) announced today the launch of
a new E-commerce service that makes it quick and easy for small "mom &
pop" businesses to build online stores. Until now, many small businesses
have been unable to sell online because of the substantial investment
required. The expertise needed for the design and maintenance of online
storefronts put them out of reach of the smallest businesses.

Recent advancements in open source software are now helping to level the
playing field. Chris Dennison, Head Webmaster at BLACKSUN states,
"Without the availability of this new high quality open source software,
there would be no way to offer these services so inexpensively. Several
open source products have quickly matured into production capable
alternatives."    Ask Dennison why is open source so important and he
quickly states, "Because it's free."

That idea of free software is driving the popularity of the Linux
operating system and other open source projects like OSCommerce, the
shopping cart behind the BLACKSUN service, and OpenOffice.org, an office
productivity suite similar to the popular Microsoft Office software.

While these applications are relatively new, open source is not. Most of
the basic infrastructure of the Internet is based on open source,
including; Apache - the software that runs over 50% of the world's web
servers, sendmail - the most important and widely used email transport
software on the Internet, and Open SSL - a method for encryption that
makes shopping online safe.

Dennison says, "Many of the big software companies are acting like the
emperor with no clothes. They are pretending that open source doesn't
matter, but it does. The truth is that you just can't ignore free."

Mike Czsonak, owner of Rock Coast Sports in Rockland Maine agrees, "We
are very excited about this. We've wanted to sell online for years but
just couldn't justify the investment. Now, for less than a cup of coffee
a day, we can have a complete online store. It really is amazing."


About BLACKSUN networks, Inc.

BLACKSUN networks provides web hosting services to organizations around
the world from offices in Rockport, Maine. The company also provides
additional IT services to Maine companies. Founded in 2001, BLACKSUN has
seen steady and consistent growth by following its plan to provide
customers with great service at a fair price.

For more information about the service, or to order online, go to
http://www.blacksunnetworks.com  or call 207-594-2452.

 
	MEDIA CONTACT: 
		William Thomas, President
		of BLACKSUN networks, Inc. 
		wthomas@blacksunnetworks.com 
		+1-207-594-2452


/Note to editors: Additional background information available.
Additional sources:  www.opensource.org, www.openoffice.org,
www.oscommerce.com. /




 
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[ source of news = BLACKSUN networks, Inc. ]
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