Deep Dive

In this episode of The Deep Dive, we explore one of the biggest challenges in talent management: employee onboarding. From scattered spreadsheets to overwhelming information dumps, traditional onboarding processes are often chaotic, especially for fast-growing or remote teams.

We take a closer look at Chief Onboarding, an independent, European-based open source platform designed to replace this chaos with a structured, step-by-step journey. Instead of treating onboarding as administrative paperwork, the platform focuses on designing a meaningful first employee experience.

At the core of the system are customizable “blueprints” — drag-and-drop onboarding workflows that align HR, IT, managers, and team buddies in one centralized process. Through “sequences,” tasks are delivered gradually, either time-based or triggered by completion of previous steps, preventing information overload for new hires.

The platform includes features such as pre-boarding preparation, task tracking, training resources, motivational badges, structured introductions for remote teams, multilingual support, and timezone adjustments. It also integrates with other tools through automated provisioning and webhooks, enabling seamless collaboration with payroll systems and other software.

As an AGPL v3 licensed open source solution, Chief Onboarding offers transparency, flexibility, and data control. Organizations can self-host the platform or choose professional hosting and support, striking a balance between independence and convenience.

The episode concludes with a key question: If onboarding is structured, personalized, and stress-free from day one, how much faster can new hires become productive—and how significantly could that impact long-term talent retention?

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

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In this episode of The Deep Dive, we explore how dependent our daily lives have become on digital calendars—and what it really means to rely on big tech platforms to manage something as essential as our time.

The focus is on DAViCal, an open-source calendar server that implements the CalDAV protocol. At its core, DAViCal acts as a self-hosted cloud for calendar data. Instead of locking users into proprietary ecosystems, it relies on open standards that ensure interoperability across a wide range of applications—including Mozilla Calendar, Evolution, Apple Calendar (iCal), and iOS.

The episode breaks down two key standards:

This combination guarantees compatibility and freedom from vendor lock-in.

A major theme of the discussion is digital sovereignty. DAViCal is licensed under the GPL (General Public License), meaning users are free to use, study, modify, and share the software. This ensures transparency, long-term sustainability, and full control over sensitive calendar data.

The episode also highlights enterprise-level features that make DAViCal comparable to Microsoft Exchange or Google Workspace:

From a technical standpoint, DAViCal requires:

The developers recommend running it on open-source operating systems like Linux or FreeBSD, noting that such infrastructure performs best in open environments.

Beyond the software itself, the episode emphasizes the strength of its community-driven model. Contributions go far beyond coding—documentation, translations, user support, and feature design are all essential. This reflects the broader philosophy behind the project: open collaboration over corporate control.

The episode concludes by zooming out to a bigger question:

Ultimately, DAViCal represents more than just a tool. It embodies a commitment to digital independence, interoperability, and long-term ownership of your own data.

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

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What if you could run your own chat platform — secure, open source, and fully under your control?

In this episode, we dive into Synapse, the powerful home server behind the Matrix network. But this isn’t just a technical walkthrough — it’s about digital independence. What does it really mean to host your own communication infrastructure? And how hard is it, actually?

We break down the difference between Matrix (the open protocol) and Synapse (the server software that makes it real), explain why one small domain mistake can create a massive security risk, and uncover why decentralization still relies — at least for now — on a few centralized identity services.

You’ll learn:

Whether you’re just curious about self-hosting or seriously considering running your own server, this episode filters out the noise and gives you the clarity you need to get started — safely.

Because owning your communication isn’t just a technical decision. It’s a strategic one.

Ready to rethink how chat works? 🎧

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

Try it now!

This episode of The Deep Dive explores the world of hospitality technology, focusing on how the open-source platform QloApps is challenging traditional proprietary hotel software systems.

Hotels rely on complex software to manage real-time room inventory, pricing, reservations, loyalty programs, and distribution across platforms like Booking.com and Expedia. Traditionally, these systems have been proprietary, expensive, and restrictive, often locking hotel owners into costly annual licensing agreements.

QloApps represents a major strategic shift. It is a completely free and open-source solution that combines three essential components:

A key feature is the Channel Manager, which automatically synchronizes room rates and availability across multiple online travel agencies in real time. This prevents overbooking and revenue loss. The system also includes advanced features such as restaurant and POS management, online check-in, loyalty systems, housekeeping modules, GDPR compliance tools, SEO optimization, and even a marketplace function that allows hotel owners to create their own booking platforms.

Technically, QloApps is built mainly in PHP and runs on standard web hosting environments. It is licensed under OSL 3.0, meaning users can modify and distribute the software, but improvements must remain open-source. This ensures community-driven development while keeping the system free.

The project is primarily maintained by Webcool, combining open-source collaboration with professional support services such as hosting, training, and 24/7 assistance. Strong community engagement (e.g., thousands of GitHub stars) reflects significant developer interest and adoption.

The main takeaway: QloApps is not just free software — it represents a fundamental change in the business model of hotel technology. It reduces dependency on expensive vendors, lowers operational costs, gives businesses ownership of their data, and offers flexibility that proprietary systems often cannot.

The episode concludes by raising a broader question: If open-source software can successfully manage something as complex as hotel operations, what other expensive and specialized industries might be next to experience similar disruption?

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

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The text presents a deep-dive discussion of Prism Analytics, a modern, privacy-focused web analytics platform positioned as an alternative to traditional systems like Google Analytics.

Prism is described as open source, built in the Go programming language for high performance, and designed from the ground up with privacy and data ownership in mind. A key selling point is its strong compliance with regulations such as GDPR and Schrems II, which often allows websites to operate without cookie banners. This reduces legal complexity, improves user experience, and may increase conversion rates.

The platform emphasizes simplicity and speed. Setup reportedly takes only three minutes, and its tracking script is extremely small (around 2 kilobytes), making it about 22 times smaller than many competitors. This improves website load times and benefits SEO. An even lighter 35-byte pixel tracking option is available for environments where JavaScript is restricted.

Prism uses a “progressive analytics” model: users start with basic metrics and can scale up to advanced tracking, including custom events, funnels, and geomaps. Unlike many platforms that limit reporting to predefined dashboards, Prism provides direct SQL API access. This allows full access to raw data and integration with external tools like NumPy and Pandas, giving users complete flexibility and control.

Performance is another major highlight. Prism processes data in real time, unlike some competitors that may delay reporting by 24–48 hours. It also includes automatic bot and spam filtering through a feature called “Humans Only.” Technical benchmarks from GitHub indicate the system can handle over 50,000 requests per second.

The platform is built using open-source tools such as Grafana (for dashboards) and ClickHouse (for high-performance data storage). Users can either use Prism’s cloud service or self-host the software, avoiding vendor lock-in and retaining full ownership of their data.

The core message is that Prism represents a shift in web analytics: instead of treating user data as the product (as with many free analytics platforms), it sells software and service while ensuring privacy, speed, long-term data retention, and total user control.

The final reflection questions the hidden costs of using “free” analytics tools that monetize customer data instead of prioritizing data ownership and privacy.

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

Try it now!

The deep dive introduces Grimoire, an open-source, self-hosted bookmark manager that goes beyond saving simple links. Instead of just storing URLs like traditional browser bookmarks, Grimoire saves the full content of webpages locally, preventing issues such as link rot, paywalls, or site changes. This transforms bookmarks into a personal, permanent research library that users fully control.

A major focus of Grimoire is privacy and ownership. Because it is open source (MIT licensed) and designed for self-hosting, users are not dependent on third-party companies. Their data remains secure and under their own control.

Grimoire offers practical features such as:

Although self-hosting may seem intimidating, Grimoire simplifies setup using Docker and Docker Compose, which package the application and its dependencies into containers. Installation typically requires editing a configuration file and running a single command. Updates are also straightforward. Existing users upgrading from version 0.3.x to 0.4 must use a built-in migration tool due to structural changes.

Looking ahead, the roadmap includes AI features (such as automatic summaries and tag suggestions), optional public profiles and bookmark sharing, and a new concept called “Flows.” Flows would allow users to organize bookmarks in structured sequences, turning collections of links into guided learning paths or research projects.

Overall, Grimoire aims to shift bookmarking from passive link saving to active knowledge building. It encourages users to reclaim control of their information and transform scattered bookmarks into structured, long-term knowledge assets.

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

Try it now!

The Deep Dive explores TailChat, an open-source application that reimagines team chat as more than just messaging. Instead of being a simple communication tool like Slack or Discord, TailChat positions itself as a “No-IM” (Not Only Instant Messaging) platform — essentially a customizable operating system for team collaboration.

Its core idea is that chat apps should not just host conversations about work, but actively enable and integrate workflows. TailChat achieves this through a powerful plugin system, allowing teams to embed tools like video calls, collaborative editors, drawing boards, CI/CD notifications, and more directly into chat channels. This reduces context switching and tool fatigue.

Key features include:

A two-level group space structure with customizable layouts

An AI assistant for summarizing conversations and improving messages

Strong privacy controls and role-based access control (RBAC)

Deep customization for enterprises or small teams

Open-source transparency (Apache 2.0 license, active GitHub community)

Technically, TailChat uses a front-end microkernel architecture and back-end microservices, making it scalable and resilient but potentially more complex to manage. It supports web, desktop, and mobile clients, with modern deployment options like cloud platforms.

Ultimately, TailChat aims to solve tool fragmentation by becoming a centralized, self-hosted collaboration hub. The central question it raises is whether the benefits of digital sovereignty and customization outweigh the convenience of using large hosted platforms like Slack or Teams.

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

Try it now!

This episode explores the shift towards digital sovereignty with a focus on open-source workplace alternatives, specifically the Twake ecosystem. It highlights Twake Drive as a privacy-first challenger to giants like Google and Microsoft, emphasizing transparency and trust as core benefits of open-source solutions. The AGPL 3.0 license is explained as a mechanism to ensure code remains public and modifications are shared, preventing proprietary creep. Twake’s commitment to privacy is underscored by comprehensive encryption and exclusive data storage in France, ensuring GDPR compliance. The suite integrates with OnlyOffice for collaborative document editing and offers a unified ID across its products, including TwakeChat with its innovative Bridges feature for cross-platform messaging, Twikmail with advanced anti-spam, Twik Calendar, and Twik Physio for secure video conferencing. The document stresses deployment flexibility, particularly the on-premise option, which allows organizations to maintain complete control over their data on their own hardware, trading convenience for ownership. Developed by Linegora, a French open-source entity, Twake is built on a modern tech stack. Ultimately, the conversation shifts to whether businesses should prioritize data ownership and transparency over the convenience of monolithic cloud providers, presenting a choice that defines the future of digital business. SafeServer is acknowledged for supporting the hosting and transformation required for such open-source solutions.

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

Try it now!

This episode outlines a roadmap for beginners interested in self-hosting the communication platform Stoat, emphasizing the use of Docker for deployment. It details the process from initial server setup and security hardening, including firewall configuration and SSH key authentication, to installing necessary tools like Git and Docker. The guide explains how to clone the repository, use a script to generate configuration files, and customize settings like email verification and captcha. It covers launching the platform using Docker Compose, ensuring it runs in the background, and the critical step of replacing default domain names with a custom HTTPS and WSS setup. The document also delves into advanced topics such as making an instance invite-only by directly manipulating the database and the complex, manual process of updating the platform, which often involves data migrations and configuration file changes. It highlights the significant security risks associated with not staying updated, including vulnerabilities like unrestricted account creation, denial of service attacks, and data leaks. The overarching message is that while Docker simplifies the initial setup, the long-term maintenance of a self-hosted platform like Stoat requires a substantial commitment of time and technical skill, akin to a part-time job, to ensure digital independence and user trust.

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

Try it now!

Offen Fair Web Analytics is presented as a clear, actionable, and ethical model for web analytics, designed to address data privacy concerns and information overload. It operates on three core pillars: being secure and free with open-source code, self-hosted to ensure data ownership and prevent third-party leakage, and strictly opt-in for user consent, leaving no trace if not agreed upon. This approach shifts the operator’s responsibility to a trust contract with the user, focusing on data minimization, end-to-end encryption, and transparent insights. Unlike traditional analytics, Offen avoids collecting IP addresses and user agent strings, and its end-to-end encryption ensures that even if a server is compromised, the data remains uselessly scrambled. Operators receive essential aggregate data like unique sessions and top pages, while users, through the ‘auditorium,’ can view their specific activity, fostering profound trust. Deployment is simplified through lightweight binaries or Docker images, with options like SQLite for database management and automatic SSL certificate handling. The system supports multiple languages and offers customizable consent banners to match website design. A demo command is available for immediate testing. Offen is highlighted as a genuine ethical alternative, supported by the NL Net Foundation, promoting a more private web by placing users on equal footing with operators and questioning whether fairness can become a primary driver for user engagement.

Let’s have a look at your digital challenges together. What tools are you currently using? Are your processes optimal? How is the state of backups and security updates?

Digital Souvereignty is easily achived with Open Source software (which usually cost way less, too). Our division Safeserver offers hosting, operation and maintenance for countless Free and Open Source tools.

Try it now!