coreBOS CRM is built on Apache, PHP, and MySQL. We'll review briefly each of these components below.

• PHP

PHP is another open-source software project. It is a sophisticated scripting language that benefits from the contribution of developers all over the world. PHP allows you to process data among many other things. coreBOS CRM is built on PHP. Over the last decade, PHP has become the scripting language of choice for many open-source and commercially hosted software packages. 

• Apache

Apache is another open-source software project. Apache is a web server. A web server allows you to "host" a website. When you browse the Internet, Apache is what sends the content you're viewing to your screen. Of the roughly 255 million websites that existed in 2010, Apache hosted about 152 million of them. coreBOS CRM uses the Apache web server by default, although it can be configured to work with other web servers. Make sure you have a working installation of Apache 2.0.40 or above. Little experience with Apache is necessary for the use of coreBOS.

• MySQL

MySQL is a free, open-source database management engine. It allows you to store, process, and retrieve relational data. coreBOS CRM uses MySQL to store all of its CRM data. To run coreBOS well, MySQL 5.1.x is recommended. Like PHP, significant MySQL skills will unlock the true potential for customization that coreBOS has.

• Smarty

Smarty is a template engine designed for PHP. The result it that it separates the application logic (PHP) from the presentation or what you see on the screen. coreBOS CRM uses Smarty to display its data, such as leads, accounts, and contacts.

You don't have to worry about installing Smarty or its version, as it installs along with coreBOS. Smarty is a PHP-based templating system that allows coreBOS to create its various views and layouts and merge them with coreBOS data layer, MySQL.

• CSS

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is the standard by which colors and background images are applied in coreBOS. If you are proficient in CSS, you can significantly change the look and feel of coreBOS CRM and even make important usability improvements specific to your organization.

So, if you have experience with Apache, PHP, MySQL, and CSS, coreBOS is a perfect fit for you and your organization. I'm sure you're eager to dig right in and start installing, but first, let's take a look at coreBOS's CRM feature set. Then you'll get a good picture of what you have to start with.