But the
one thing that always stayed at the back of my mind was that nagging desire, to find
an open-source reporting solution. So as a few days rolled on during the conference,
I was getting a little annoyed at one of the product pitches. So on this particular day's
keynote speech, the vice-president of some such department was talking on and on
about all the products that Actuate had to offer. Of course, as I was already starting
to zone out, I started doodling in my notebook with little caricatures of him
doing sales pitches. But suddenly, as if I had a moment of clarity from a drunken
Introduction
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stupor, this VP said the most remarkable thing. He said "Actuate realizes the
importance for an open-source reporting product, which is why we have started on
an open-source initiative with the Eclipse Foundation, to make an open-source report
platform called BIRT."
It was as if he read my mind, and suddenly I couldn't help but listen to my new
messiah. Apparently someone out there was listening, and someone had clued in to
an untapped market. And thus was my introduction to BIRT.
However, this is actually a two-part question: While my story demonstrates the
need for report developers, what about application developers? Well, let me give
you a scenario. You work for the MIS/BI group in your company.
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