General Interface FAQ

  • Why is General Interface being donated to the DOJO Foundation?

    TIBCO and the Dojo Foundation have established the General Interface project to give developers access to the award winning General Interface source code and through open source, promote the rapid creation of reliable Ajax applications, components and portlets with the look and feel of desktop graphical user interface applications.

  • What is the DOJO Foundation?

    The Dojo Foundation is a 501(c)(6) non-profit dedicated to creating a level playing field for the development of new Open Web technologies. The Dojo Foundation hosts a growing number of projects including the Dojo Toolkit, Persevere, DWR, and cometD. The Foundation has received code contributions from over 500 individuals and 50 corporations worldwide. DOJO foundation can be found online at http://www.dojofoundation.org.

  • If I paid for Enterprise License, how does this help me? Do things change?

    The enterprise edition of TIBCO General Interface remains a key product in TIBCO's SOA suite of products and existing and new enterprise customers can expect to receive the same world class service and support from TIBCO. Contributions from the open source community will be vetted and supported by TIBCO in order to bring the highest possible value to TIBCO's customers. If you currently receive support now, nothing will change.

  • What is the advantage of having GI a part of the DOJO Foundation?

    There are many advantages of having GI a part of the DOJO Foundation: The Dojo Foundation is home to a number of key web application tools including the Dojo Toolkit, DWR (Direct Web Remoting) and cometD (Ajax Push). As a result of TIBCO-sponsored development, DWR is already well integrated with GI. With the release of GI 3.8, there is now tight integration between the Dojo Toolkit and GI. This is very good for GI end users as we expect significant developer contributions from outside TIBCO to the GI project. From open source developers, GI will receive further feedback product engineering, and expanded QA coverage for pre-release software.

  • What is the difference between the Enterprise Edition and the Open Source version?

    At the time of submission of GI project to DOJO, both versions of the software are the same. The Enterprise Edition of GI will continue to be sold and supported by TIBCO. The Open Source version is offered under a BSD open source license and will not be supported by TIBCO.

    • As we move forward, it is possible that features might be developed for TIBCO's enterprise paid customers and released only in the enterprise edition. And, it is also possible that features in the open source edition contributed by the community might not be up to TIBCO standards, and would only be available in the open source edition.

  • How do I get support for the open source GI project?

    Questions can be posted directly on the GI forums at http://www.generalinterface.org/forums/. Peer to peer support is provided via the forums, moderated and monitored by TIBCO engineering and the contributors and committers of the open source community at large.

  • Where can I track bug reports and file feature enhancements?

    Bug reports and feature enhancements can be found on JIRA bug tracker at http://www.generalinterface.org/bugs/. Enterprise customers should continue to file support tickets with TIBCO Support.

  • Where is the source?

    You can find more information on source repository and bug tracker on the project page at http://www.generalinterface.org/docs/display/OS

  • What is TIBCO's involvement/commitment to General Interface?

    Currently, TIBCO is the main sponsor for this open source project. This partnership with the Dojo Foundation and SitePen expands TIBCO's reach, bringing best-in-class enterprise tools directly to individual developers and small development shops while providing the freedom and financial advantages of "100-point" open source licensing models.

    TIBCO has had a long standing commitment to this project. TIBCO has been driving development of the GI platform since it's acquisition in 2004. AT TIBCO, GI is utilized in many of its products to build highly usable user interfaces, including (but not limited to):

    • TIBCO ActiveMartix® – a service platform for heterogeneous SOA
    • TIBCO Collaborative Information Manager™ – a master data management application offering
    • TIBCO Managed File Transfer™ – an enterprise-level, peer-to-peer, file transfer solution
    • TIBCO iProcess™ – a business process automation suite


  • How do I get involved with the General Interface project?

    Please visit the GI Project page to find out more information on how to get involved with the GI open source project.