Salesforce is a generic application platform today, and this is how see it. Openkoda is not a drop-in replacement for Salesforce CRM, it is a useful replacement when you want to build your core business application a) retaining full source code ownership and ability to get any Java/JS team to work on it and run anywhere you want, b) without becoming dependent on technology and commercial limitations of working with big S.
People don’t build applications on Salesforce because it’s a generic platform, they build on it because they need to integrate with the sales/crm process/data/etc.
Edit: To be clear, I’m not saying your idea isn’t good. There is tons of room for this stuff, but be careful in assuming the reason devs use Salesforce platform is because of the features. It’s usually not.
> Salesforce is a generic application platform today
Indeed. So, if one is going to customize the hell out of it anyway, with most of the functionality being extensions, then why not just use a free software core ? Vertical solutions providers might find profitable to serve their customers and not pay the Salesforce tax.
I don't know much about salesforce, but if it is anything like every other "enterprise" grade software every installation is a special unique snowflake and you have to train the people on it anyway... Or more realistically you give them a 5 minute overview and let them flounder away a few weeks hating the infernal thing while they try and figure it out.
