Groundbreaking for the Zoho Creator Depot

With this, my first post,  I want to invite our readers to comment and vote on an idea we’ve been kicking around here - that of starting the  Zoho Creator Depot (ZCD).   As we currently envision it, ZCD would be a good destination if you’ve made up your mind about Zoho Creator as your platform of choice to deploy an application and you’re searching for tools, materials and advise or development help .

The ZCD would include:

• A gallery of production-quality ZC components and applications.

• Documented Case Studies and Success Stories.

• A list of ZC developers  and consultants, with their credentials and areas of expertise.

• A knowledge base of different topics that apply to ZC.

• Frameworks for developing or deploying mash-ups with Zoho Creator

• A simple way to purchase previously developed components, applications or development services.

As a client of ZCD services,  you could  resell the application or component and recover part of your original investment. If you sell it multiple times  you could conceivably make some money too. And if you’re a developer,  ZCD would be a way to connect with your potential clients.

I’m just borrowing ideas from brick-and-mortar places I find useful, like Home Depot, the Weaver Street Market and Play it Again Sports. If there is enough intest in this we’ll go ahead and build some ZC forms, get a Zoho Wiki started and see where this takes us.

Welcoming Gabriel

Those of you who visit this site directly might notice a new face in the sidebar. Although we have Lockworld to thank for some great posts about ZC and we were hoping to see more, Doug recently let it be known he was having difficulty finding time to post. Hence we invited a new face to LoZC and the face accepted — please welcome Gabriel Coch!

I’ll let Gabriel introduce himself through his own introductory post but I will point out that he’s one of those rare folk who combine technical acumen, business savvy, and a genuine desire to help people not only improve their daily lives through technology but also safeguard their communities.

In addition, Gabriel and I have been exploring over email and a couple phone conversations how we (we meaning us and YOU) can take ZC’s potential as a commercial business platform to “the next level”…though what that next level looks like is frankly unknown at this point. Part of Gabriel’s motivation for joining us, if I can presume to speak for him for just a moment, is to further this idea by harnessing a real ZC community.

I’m excited and hope you are too!