Add Vodigi To The Free Open Source Digital Signage Software List

December 17, 2012 by Dave Haynes

I stumbled on another company, called Vodigi, that’s offering free open-source software for the digital signage market. Not the bait and switch free of my favorite West Coast software spammers, but really free.

Vodigi joins a short list that includes Xibo, Concerto, JADS, Screenly and Rise Vision, the latter by far the most commercial and experienced of the platforms. Rise makes its money through integration work and has near-term plans to up-sell on premium functionality and plugins/widgets.

Vodigi is on version 5.5 of the software, and while the functionality probably won’t make many of the more established software players jealous or even curious, it appears to do the basics just fine.

Vodigi is a product/service of JMC Publications, a Georgia-based LLC that’s been around 15 years. The company does custom software development and system design services, and owns and operates several commercial web sites.

The company, by the looks of it, uses Vodigi as the base platform and makes money on hosting the service (though it’s not required) and custom development that adds functionality and requested features to the base solution.

The company claims to have thousands of installs in 90-plus countries.

Is this an option for a large retailer or corporation? No. Will it do the job for a non-profit with a screen at reception? Yeah, probably.

Also, keep in mind software is just one cost – and in the big picture, often a nominal one. None of the tech matters much unless you have a sustainable, affordable plan to make what’s on the screen(s) worth watching.