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Open Source Making Inroads in Small Businesses

Posted by michael on from the price-sensitive dept.

prostoalex writes "In a story mainly about new OpenOffice release, NewsFactor Network quotes an interesting finding of Jupiter Research analyst: "Open-source productivity suites did "surprisingly well" in the mid-size business market, with the OpenOffice suite alone claiming a share of about 6%. Furthermore, [Joe Wilcox] found that some 19% of small businesses ran Linux on their desktop, and a whopping 26% ran Linux on their servers.""

6 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. OpenOffice in schools... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If only schools could switch to OpenOffice to, and we could probably get rid of the MS Office dominance for ever in a few years...

    1. Re:OpenOffice in schools... by Doesn't_Comment_Code · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If only schools could switch to OpenOffice to, and we could probably get rid of the MS Office dominance for ever in a few years...

      I'm working on a project to recycle old computer parts into working computers for schools. The school I'm working with now has no money... none. That's why we're doing this. So I can't very well turn around and ask the school to drop a couple hundred for an OS for each computer they get. Obviously we will be using 100% open source - OpenOffice on Linux.


      Interestingly, for all the complaining I hear about underfunded schools, some schools refused free computers because they didn't look like the others that they had purchased. Even more refused because they had to choose between using Linux free or paying for an OS.

      --

      Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
  2. Easy way to verify it by ajs318 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It would not be too hard to verify Open Office.org's market share by experiment. All we need to do is start sending out .sxw and .sxc attachments. If we get e-mails asking what programme opens them, we tell them Open Office {though I'd expect MS Office to be able to open them just fine; after all, the Open Office.org file formats are public knowledge, whereas the MS office file formats are closely-guarded secrets}.

    Also, it might give some people a dose of their own medicine.

    --
    Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
  3. Those numbers sound questionable. by stratjakt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I visit tons of small businesses, and this guys telling me 1 in 4 are running linux somewhere?

    And what exactly does he call a small business? Are these .com startups or what? Sounds like a dataset skewed towards tech-oriented businesses.

    I mean, your local mom and pop dry cleaner or deli stand doesn't usually have a server farm in the closet or care how many megaflips per flop the electrowizzer can do.

    When I think small business and computers, I think of a cheap dell in the corner running QuickBooks..

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  4. I'm in that 26% by cenonce · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I'm a solo practicing lawyer with one employee. I use two Macs for desktop stuff, but keep all my firm files on a Linux x86 Server I built and set-up myself. The Macs mount the shares via NFS. It also acts as a print server. I've never had a problem with it and would never be able to afford to have a dedicated server if I had to pay Microsoft licensing fees. I also figure I saved myself about a thousand bucks by using Linux instead of buying OS X server and another Mac capable of acting as a server.

    -A

  5. Makes perfect sense by _underSCORE · · Score: 5, Interesting

    About five years ago, I set up a linux server at my godfather's business, and it's been running like a tank since then. It replaced an NT machine that required constant fixing and administration on his end. Since he's not the most savvy user, this was a constant source of complaint for him.

    The linux machine grew with his business, and was only recently replaced (due to a motherboard failure). When I asked him what kind of OS he wanted on the new server, the choice was clear: Linux. Since it requires so little maintenance (none from him and only remote administration from me) he's been one of the most vocal Linux advocates in the small business community, and had several business in our area come in to see how well Linux works with their existing technologies.

    Did we have trouble? Yeah... ACT didn't like to be on a SAMBA share (until I found out it needed oplock tweaking), and getting tech support from his ISP was troublesome, but once everything was set up, there was nothing more to do.

    Small businesses often can't afford to have a full time IT person, so this kind of set it and forget it proposition makes great business sense.

    --
    "This is not a company that appears to be bothered by ethical boundaries."
    Attorney General Mike Hatch on Microsoft