The Open Source Option

[velkymx]

I just read through the article about using Open Source or Free software alternatives in the business. Great article. I think you guys just brushed the surface of what is out there. There are many great applications for doing almost everything that you have to buy... from photos to anti-virus, you can get it all for free... as the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) movement philosophy focuses on the good of the community over profits.

If anyone has questions or needs recommendations, please PM me!

[DMuse]

I agree we just skimmed the surface. We'll plan to cover some other types of open source software in the near future. I'd be curious to hear your recommendations -- and I'm sure other forum members would be as well..
--Dan

[JPnyc]

I find the whole open source movement interesting, but it's one of the less pleasant facts of human life that nothing motivates quite like personal interest (read:greed). That's why the US usually leads the world in medical and dental advancement, because we don't have socialized medicine.

Similarly, I find that while the open source applications I've tried do work pretty well, they don't quite meet the level of reliable function that commercial apps do. This is just my personal experience.

[justinpowell]

I've had good experience with the open source packages I've used, but there are clearly some immature projects out there. Interestingly, some of the open source apps out there (i.e., mySQL) have commercial counterparts that help keep them competitive. Likewise, some of the open source projects have forced commercial apps to regain their competitiveness. As an example, the rapid adoption of Firefox finally got Microsoft off the stick to make some enhancements to Internet Explorer. (Maybe we'll even see the announced changes to IE sometime soon...)

Open source isn't always the be-all end-all, but it has a valuable role in the scheme of things. And some of the open source apps are clearly as good, if not better, than their commercial competitors.

[jazzcat]

Something else to consider: there are many applications that at one point were completely commercial apps but have been open-sourced.

The excellent Quasar Accounting package is one example. Since 1995, the fine folks at LinuxCanada have been continually supporting this application which they wrote ten years ago. While it was commercial-only for most of its life, it was released as open source in January of 2005. This application is on-par with the features, capabilities, reporting, and ease-of-use of QuickBooks Enterprise Edition (as it surpasses QuickBooks Basic and QB Pro with some advanced inventory features). January of 2006 will see the release of Quasar 1.5 with even more advanced inventory features such as LIFO/FIFO pricing.

As tens of thousands of businesses worldwide have discovered, you can't beat an open source accounting system which is reliable enough to handle millions of invoices a year, is robust enough to handle tens (perhaps hundreds?) of concurrent users at multiple store locations (with no license fees), and runs on a virtually virus-proof and otherwise highly secure operating system...

Check it out. Even the feature list is 50 pages long!

http://www.linuxcanada.com
ftp://ftp.linuxcanada.com/pub/Quasar...ures-1.4.7.pdf

(Disclaimer: I don't work for LinuxCanada - just a satisfied user of their s/w.)

[DMuse]

I think deploying open source software is still probably beyond the tech. skills of most smaller SMBs. However, what intrigues me is the notion of service providers offering open source apps as Web-based services. It has the potential of offering the best of both worlds. Small businesses get the features they need at a monthy subscription price considerably lower that proprietary applications. However ,the xSP handles the infrastructure, software patchs, upgrades and so on.

Of course, nothing is right for everyone. Some companies aren't comfortable with Web-based applications. I just think open source will continue to provide more compelling options as the primary barrier (complexity) is lowered.

--Dan

[JPnyc]

Another point I forgot to mention, the open source movement has pushed commercial developers to hone their products further to stay a step ahead. THat can't be a bad thing

[justinpowell]

I think deploying open source software is still probably beyond the tech. skills of most smaller SMBs. However, what intrigues me is the notion of service providers offering open source apps as Web-based services.

In many cases I would whole-heartedly agree with you, however some of the open source apps have put a lot of work into making their installation/configuration pretty painless. I also agree that it is pretty attractive when service providers offer open source apps. One host I use has installers for a whole range of open source apps (including portals and e-commerce) which I have found to work seamlessly and offers a great benefit to the customer.

[velkymx]

I know that when I develop an application, like SynergyMovies, something that I made just for myself to use, I often open it up for free. Why not share the wealth?

[landisnet]

There is also a good open source productivity suite called OpenOffice. I have played with it and you can integrate the files into Office, word, powerpoint, excel, and visio. I know that many European companies have adopted it as an alternative to commercial office suites.

RS
http://www.landisnetusa.com

[JPnyc]

Yeah I considered it when I found Office wasn't bundled with my new pc. But I ended up sticking with office, mostly for outlook. Then I ended up using thunderbird for email anyway. Although it has far fewer features than Outlook, it has the spam filtering I desperately need for my work email

[landisnet]

I like Outlook so much with all of the extra's in it that I have not migrated to Thunderbird, although I like Firefox very much. I cannot give up the task manager that pops up when I have scheduled to do something. That little tool has saved my life at least 10 x(s) over.

RS
http://www.landisnetusa.com

[velkymx]

If you love Outlook, I know that I use all of its features, you should really install Spambayes. http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/ Spambayes installs and adds a excellent spam filter to Outlook. It is as good if not better than the one in Thunderbird, and it is 100% free.

http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/

[JPnyc]

I have it, it works well but too slowly. Also, one thing Outlook does that drives me absolutely nuts, it gives the small env. in the systray when you get ANY mail, including junk mail. That makes me crazy. We use our email for everything in my company, and I stop what I'm doing the second I see i have mail, and check it. If I had to check for every piece of useless mail I get each day, I'd never get anything done.

[velkymx]

JPncy - my favorite thing outlook does is automatically goes into Offline mode. That is the best! Stupid MS! As for Spambayes... I love it, its a bit slow (takes about 30 seconds to go through 200 spam) but I rarely have to go one by one.