What is Magento?

Magento is an Open Source ecommerce web application launched on March 31, 2008. It was created by Varien, building on components of the Zend Framework.

Magento is available under the Open Software License version 3.0. Since version 1.1.7 some parts are licensed under the Academic Free License version 3.0.

Magento Enterprise Edition, a paid for version of Magento aimed at larger companies, was launched on April 15, 2009.

General Feature List:

• Site Management
• Mobile Commerce
• Marketing Promotions and Tools
• International Support
• Search Engine Optimization
• Checkout
• Shipping
• Payment
• Order Management
• Customer Service
• Customer Accounts
• Catalog Management
• Catalog Browsing
• Product Browsing
• Analytics and Reporting
• Customer Reviews
• Cross-Selling
• Customer Tags
• Compare Products
• Wishlists
• Google Base Integration
• Google Website Optimizer Integration

History:

Varien, the company that owns Magento, formerly worked with osCommerce, touting themselves as the US leaders in osCommerce. They originally planned to fork osCommerce but later decided to rewrite it as Magento.

Magento officially started development in early 2007 Seven months later on August 31, 2007, the first public beta version was released.

The German magazine t3n featured Magento in the December 2007 edition.

In March 2008, Magento was selected to present at the Under the Radar: The Business of Web Apps conference, where it won the audience favorite.

Magento 1.0 was released on March 31, 2008.

Magento 1.1 was released on July 25, 2008. This version provided fixes for many bugs and also makes Magento faster, with more responsive UI.

Magento 1.2 was released on December 29, 2008. This version provided release highlights of downloadable products, many bug fixes, fulltext search and upgraded ZendFramework libraries.

Magento 1.3 was released on March 30, 2009. This version provided fixes for many bugs, speed optimisations to make Magento faster.

Magento 1.3Enterprise was released on April 15, 2009. This version provides a service agreement with Varien and starts at $8,900 USD per year.

Magento Connect

Magento supports installation of modules through a web based interface accessible through the administration area of a Magento installation. Modules are hosted on the Magento eCommerce website as a PEAR server. Any community member can upload a module through the website and is made available once confirmed by a member of the Magento team. Modules are installed by entering a module key, available on the module page, into the web based interface.

There are three categories of modules hosted on Magento Connect:

• Core Modules
• Community Modules
• Commercial Modules

Core and Community modules can be installed via the administration area. Commercial module pages provide price information and a link to an external website.