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Build Your Business With Open Source
PCM2 writes "InfoWorld this week is running a ten-page guide to building your business entirely with OSS. The guide highlights OSS alternatives for many enterprise applications categories such as CRM, ERP, content management, and so on. It's not exhaustive, but where it skips the obvious categories like databases and Web servers it includes some others that you might not expect."
"Build Your Business With Open Source"
By Darl McBride & Chris Sontag
Trolling is a art,
I've dealt with management at different companies I've worked for and the biggest issue they seem to have is that it will upset "the order of things." It seems that this is the perfect market for F/OSS. If you're already using it, its not as big of a headache to start. Now you just have to worry about the technical level of those that are starting their own business.
I don't get it.
Question is: Are the people who matter reading these kinds of reports?
The solutions are as obvious as the categories.
Does anybody with the required knowledge of databases not know about Apache and Postgres/My/whatever SQL?
I've wondered for a *long* time why coders do not prefer a build-it model to servicing mass-produced proprietary code.
The profession of coding would be stronger as a profession if coders kept the source open and sold time to build individuals what they needed. There is little danger that non-coders will suddenly wean themselves from the need to hire coders just because the source is available.
Doctors generally don't keep their medical knowledge secret to make money. They share knowledge and concentrate on practicing.
I'm laughing at clouds.
Keep this in mind: a big-ass list of "open-source replacement alternatives" sort of implies that the closed-source path is the "normal way to do it" in the first place. If you're starting from there you've already lost. Every alternative choice will need to be justified to death and most will lose.
Better to bring the philosophy in this way: "We will use the best tool for the job. We strongly prefer open source for reliability and flexibility reasons; we will consider commercial products where appropriate." And then do the best job you can do with the tools you've chosen. A record of excellent results, even a very short one, is the best way to give open source a toehold.
Most business need a line-of-business or vertical market application for day to day use. General purpose apps are great for general purposes, but many many many businesses are based of regional vertical market applications. Stuff like point of sale systems for stores, software for furniture stores to schedule deliveries and inventory, medical billing software which is highly regionalized, software for denists offices, software for small banks, software for warehouse management, software for small movie rental stores, etc. General purpose computing is doing great. But for vertical markets small niche vendors are doing great.
I'm stuck with my current crippled version of QuickBooks. Any open source equivalents out there that you'd recommend?
Appgen MyBooks Professional. Not affiliated with them, just a customer who's also looking at their AccPAC killer for his day job, Appgen Custom Suite.
Until something doesn't work, then who do you call?
Personal computers are one thing, since at the moment the only people that use open source software are geeks, but in a corporate(business) environment, if something goes down, it has to be back up fast and without support, how does one accomplish that if it isn't withing that admin's realm of expertise?
A Linux flavor for every Month!
there's this - I don't know if they're equivalent tho.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
The only quickbooks that I have used was a version for DOS back in 1995, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I haven't used this product myself, but Linux Canada makes Quasar a GPL'd accounting program. If you need it, you can buy tech support from them & if necessary you can buy the close source edition too.
The company I work for always provides me with Non-OSS supplies like Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Frontpage, MS Office, and Windows XP. But my work at home involves various types of media projects including audio, video, and web. Right now I use Nvu for development, Audacity for my audio editing, and I'm trying out Jahshaka for video editing. And of course Open Office for everything else.
Almost as confirmation of an 'ask Slashdot' question of mine a while back, there still seems to be a big hole in the area of Employee/Human Resources Management.
AT&ROFLMAO
If a business was smart, they'd already be using open source as a competitive advantage. Google knows about servers and handling load. Your local PHB does not. Your PHB wants to buy Windows Server 2003. Google customized their own Linux distro.
I know enough to follow the really really smart people, like the ones at Google.
How about a list of the bare essentials instead?
So are you implying that ERP (specifically Financial), telephony, and CRM are not part of the bare essentials? Retailers don't need POS? Every business where I've worked has had many of these types of applications. What, in your mind, is critical (bare essentials) to business that is not on the list (besides database, and web - which was pointed out in an earlier thread)?
Disclaimer: I'm not a PHB. Not even a B. Just a lowly lackey.
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
Not all businesses have competent IT people.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
And it's creative vision and foresight like this that made the British automobile industry (BMC was once the third largest manufacturer of cars in the world) into the juggernaut it is today.
and many times it's specific to what industry you are in but overall Sales and marketing tools are always missing from OSS. Where are tools for customer prospecting? how about tools for industry research off of aggregate databases available for purchase? Let alone a decent 4gl accounting package that exists as OSS.. dont get me wrong, I can buy a closed source real accounting,Inventory,and POS system for linux (no not that newbie crap like quickbooks or peachtree, a REAL accounting system) but there is no OSS stuff available that has a nice set of modules and Open scripting programming language set like 4gl so I can whip up a nice custom shipping module.
hen we get into the specalized apps, where can I get an OSS program to mine my Scaroborough or Nielsen databases I get sent monthly? How about a Traffic and Billing system for commercial sales in broadcast?
It's a neat idea, and with crossover office I can run those "special apps" but you can not realistically run your entire business on OSS. your accounting system at a minimum still needs to be a closed source app.. No commercial quality Accounting system exists in a useable state yet.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I read the article but if it is mentioned, I missed it; but there are 2 factors which should be considered in the 'build or buy' equation:
1) Lower risk of orphaned applications. If your vendor goes casters up or is bought out you may find your most useful application(s) unsupported.
2) I have a real problem with the 'one size fits all' ERP model. Suppose you have a business process which gives you a real advantage over your competitors. If you go with an ERP package which requires you change to the same business processes your competitors use, you just lost an important advantage. There is nothing to differentiate you from the competition (not to mention the fact that all real software should model the business process, not vice versa).
1) seems to be poorly understood by most PHB's, the thought never seems to come up.
2) I think this is due to PHB's being trained in an industrial paradigm. A paradigm which says it does not matter, all 'widgets' are the same and so the process should also be the same. Which may be true when building dishwahers and refigerators, but since most of the US economy is now a services economy this does not work in a services based industry. Services should be unique, otherwise you are *only* competing on price, which is insane.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
My department at a research hospital/university was recently (almost 2 years ago) formed. (Formerlly a division in another department.) The new chair moved everyone to GNU\Linux (Debian) because he hates everythin M$ stands for. It works out great with limited funding b/c the department spends less on software and many of the tools used in the field are available as OSS anyway.
What doess XPPro and Office cost for 20 or so computers, anyway?
- Buy a single-vendor solution and hope that vendor keeps supporting it. It won't really fit your needs, but you can pay someone else to customise it and then be locked into using two vendors. Next year, support will run out on the solution you paid for, and you will be required to pay more for the upgrade.
- Start with a Free solution and pay someone to customise it. Require that they release the customisations to you as Free Software (usually by assigning copyright to you). Next time you need to migrate systems, you have all the rights you need to employ a different contractor to do the work. You might stick with the old one, since they are more familiar with the code, but you are not forced to.
No system lasts for ever. Eventually you will need to migrate to something new. The cost of migrating away from a platform should always be factored into the initial purchase decision.I am TheRaven on Soylent News
free and open source
http://www.turbocash-usa.com/
http://www.turbocashuk.com/
enjoy
Yes, but Sugar Open Source is only a watered down version of Sugar Pro, which is not available without a license.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Until someone comes up with an all-in-one replacement for Exchange Server, there will be no rest.
I run a small (5 person) business, and we try to use FOSS as much as possible. I could not find anything out there to replace our Exchange Server. It works, it's stable (2003 is, anyway), it syncs with our PDAs etc. etc. etc...
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
if they're smart they do what works for them given their employees, time requirements and other resources, regardless of the prevailing fashion.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
That's what you're buying, and yes you are correct about corporate people not being tech saavy.
My dad is the best example. He doesn't want to bother with do-it-yourself or free software because in reality, it's cheaper for him to buy something with support than it is to get something for free and it may not work exactly.
Of course I load up his work computer with firefox, thunderbird etc, but when it comes to his website, he'd be more interested in a company that would do everything for him, which is the right thing to do since he charges his customers $100+ an hour.
Don't do it. You will get into a hell of a mess. The biggest problem you will face is that basic business accounting consists of two parallel threads: cash in and out, and debtors/creditors. Reconciling them is key to producing management accounts, and you cannot do this with spreadsheets. If you have sales tax to deal with as well, it's much worse.
If you didn't understand the above, then you need to (a) learn basic accounting and (b) shell out for a commercial accounts system such as MYOB. If you do understand it, I will offer a comment. The small business system I have developed has about 1 man year in it, spread over about 100 customers. Is it really worth trying to save yourself a few hunded $$ for that?
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
Things like Open Office, TurboCash (Windows only) which includes POS for retail folks. I'm not too sure about tax software. Even closed source tax applications for business are pretty difficult to maintain.
It would be interesting if somebody were to write an article that included absolutely everything a business could need, from the desktop applications, through database, financial, reporting, tax, web, OS, etc..., maybe categorized by small business, meduim-sized, and enterprise.
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
My boss knows nothing about computers and doesn't care to. Once they allow him to meet his bottom line he will never change a thing. I've learned that whenever I speak to him instead of dicussing details and technical mumbo jumbo I break it down into profit and loss. I explain to him that by moving to a linux based OS server we can reduce our number of servers and downtime, and that the productivity incurred will = profit. Our P200 firewall/vpn/ftp/www servers have been running straight for over a year. While our windows boxen have brought the company to a hault on more than one occasion.
I've been searching for a small shared calendaring option for a while.
I'm not looking for a full-blown groupware suite - our email is done off-site by our ISP. I only need something I can tie everyone's calendar's together with - I want it small and focused on just a single task.
Boss is married to Outhouse, one guy has a Mac, I'm using Sunbird (although I'll adapt if I *have* to), so we have to tie in a bunch of platforms.
My current leanings are to Kolab with the Toltec connector (Note to OS naysayers: I'm not averse to spending money here! I would prefer Open Source.)
I'm reading TFA in the hopes of finding something - but I've seen nothing on a quick scan through it. Any other tips I could be following up on?
Not all businesses have competent IT people.
To go with something you know will do the job and that additionally your IT staff is familiar with is the very definition of competence. On the other hand, going with something you've never heard of just because it's 'free' is an incompetent thing to do.
I use Apache and MySQL, but I'd hesitate to recommend them to someone who has never heard of them. If they're not even familiar enough with open source to know the big players then it's questionable they'll get the value they deserve from them. There's tremendous value in using products you already know well, even if those products are relatively expensive.
TW
The article provide a very good set of entries for those who wish to use (on not) open source.
I have quite a few times (I work as an IT Consultant) met clients who did use open source. I my opinion there was some base indicators when it was useful:
You'll need in-house support.
For those who wish to use open source in the desktop environment, it usually requires some in-house supporters. Most employees are use to MS Windows from home and can therefore more easily engage with a windows environment. But after a learning period, it's possible to switch entirely to OS.
If anyone tries to switch their software to OS without the in-house support will often fail... but a lot of companies out there already has an in-house support team in place to help with daily routines (printers, new mousse etc...)
So a good rule is; if it's possible to "upgrade" your in-house support team to OS, you may "upgrade" the company desktop environment. (Do expect the cost of a learning period, compared to license savings).
Servers
Servers are often very expensive, but the operational users are usually less than the full range of desktop users in the companies. Therefore it's often more easy to switch servers, and use OS.
It still requires some fairly good administrators, but that issue goes for commercial products as well.
As most commercial server software is fairly expensive, good savings can be made here.
But check out for various issues. The basic stuff like mySql is much easier to hack than MSSql. (I know as I have been working with security on several projects). This is often not due to the product limitations, but the lack of knowledge by the administrators and developers using these platforms.
Sadly I have often seen sites that allow for SQL-insertions. In an MSSql environment, you just dictate the use of stored procedures, and your safe...
Other stuff
There are some other parameters any company needs to consider, but they are often not as general as the two above. Basically it all comes down to a simple return of investment calculation: Is the expenses in regards to OS, less than the licenses?
My own site uses OS (see link above). Why not? In my spare time I can be nerdish enough to play around, and here the OS world have it all... the only other option was to use pirate copies. So in a sense the really smart consultants and developers are forced to train and us OS. (Oh, yes I do have access to MSDN, but that's an other story).
-:) Oh no - not again.
www.rednebula.com
But help is always needed. The code is still in alpha, though I'd like to release the first public Beta in November, in time for the projects 3 year aniversary.
Problem is that this is not a simple piece of software; there's a reason it hasn't been done. Very few people understand MAPI, and those who do, understablely want to get paid for doing it.
We need people experienced in MAPI, funds to offset coding time, etc.
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
Of course I Have seen Linux servers in use in lots of businesses, and I know they exist and do the job well.
However, the customers I deal with barely know how to use a computer let alone requiring their own servers.
If I still worked at my previous employers I would be giving completely different answers now (5 years ago, Linux installations were growing even back then), but in my current backwater environment, talking about Linux and OSS in general is a foreign language to them.
IDC stats and industry figures don't mean much to small companies and partnerships dealing with local customers, they go with what they see working and tbh its a nicer simpler way to live.
liqbase
This past weekend I had a discussion with my aunt who works as a sales person for Oracle (and is also a qualified DBA). We were discussing my resume and she claimed that all the Open Source-related skills on it would scare potential employers.
;)
She basically tells me that no business operator with brains would deploy OSS, because there's nobody to "stand behind it". I countered, I thought brilliantly, by offering the example of Apache, the most shining and long-running example of Open Source. She replies that Oracle and others take Apache and create their own customized versions, suggesting additional code audits, etc, so that versions that Oracle might run are NOT your average httpd.apache.org downloads.
I was just flabbergasted, speechless, and clearly unprepared for an attack on OSS which I feel most certainly have proven themselves in numerous software packages.
Was I simply battling the "sales-droid" mentality? Is this a battle worth engaging in, or should I nod, smile, and slowly back away?
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
To go with something you know will do the job and that additionally your IT staff is familiar with is the very definition of competence. On the other hand, going with something you've never heard of just because it's 'free' is an incompetent thing to do.
This is an often forgotten truth in IT, but I would argue that not knowing about product with a high marketshare in your bussiness is at least close to incompetence. And the ability to adapt to other solutions then the one 'you know' is a very important part of the difference between compentent and good...
What would be really cool is to go to a website and create your own custom distro by selecting from a list of apps and features. Then the server would generate an ISO and burn it for you, and you get it in the mail or download it. There could be a few templates for starting points, or you could start from scratch. Linux installation programs usually let you select which apps to install. A smorgasboard distro generator would just move that step upstream. I wonder if a pay service like this would make money.
I think you're confusing accounting software with tax preparation software. FYI, my use of QuickBooks has almost zero connection to the tax code. There's the matter of how I relate my categories to tax items, which I control completely, and that's it. (Obviously, I'm not using it for payroll.) I haven't updated this software in 5 years, and haven't gotten a paid upgrade in 9 years. The fundamentals of accounting don't change often, especially for simple small businesses.
Vendor lock-in is not about the company going bust. How long will the product you are using be maintained? When it is not, what are your migration options? How much will it cost?
With a Free package, you can pay someone indefinitely to back-port security fixes from the latest branch (which need only be a day or so a month, and can be cheap).
Plus, with databases, vendor-lock in is a moot point. Why? A. No competent business will change it's main database willy-nilly.
Exactly. Which is why you do not want to have to depend on a single source for support. If MS decides to EOL your DB five years after you deploy it, then this is a problem - it means you need to test the latest version, buy copies of it, and migrate. If it still works then all you want is to keep receiving security updates. Sounds like you want a Free DB...
If your company is doing anything with the database more complicated than a recipie list, any competent database developer is going to use stored procedures heavily, which are ALL database-specific.
So there is database lock-in, but not vendor lock-in. These are different things. I can easily use a different consultant to maintain my ultra-stable (only bug fixes allowed) branch of PostgreSQL - I can't do the same with MS SQL.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Transitioning from one platform to another can be incredibly expensive. It doesn't matter what kind of license the software has.
Bingo. I had the option of starting my business from scratch. Nothing was in place, and I picked and chose from OSS and traditional software. I run a law office, and I ended up with the following:
1. Windows XP (needed it for my accounting package, plus training my minions on LInux was not an appealing idea)
2. Server OS: GNU/Linux
3. Website/Content management: PHP-Nuke
4. File server: Samba
5. Search tool for office network: Swish-e
6. Mail: Thunderbird
7. Office suite: Open Office
8. Browser: Firefox
9. Accounting: Quickbooks
10. AV: AVG
That's really all I need. I have a few pieces here and there: Paperport (which came OEM with my MFC machine) and Palm Desktop (came OEM with my Treo) for instance. I tried to mix and match based on my needs, budget, and consideration of implementation costs (that killed the idea of Linux on the desktop, though that's not out the window (so to speak) just yet -- I may ultimately make that move).
My standard rule in-house is to look OSS first, commercial second. I am clearly the exception in my community right now, by I am spreading the word. I'm not taking a ideological standpoint, simply a cost/beneift approach when spreading the word. I know OSS wins on initial cost (which is important to me now) and my staff has transitioned to Open Office pretty easily since there isn't a huge installed base of MS Office forms in place. In other areas, if an OSS app scratches an itch, I go that route if the software works inthe manner I need it to. If there is no OSS option, or there is a bad one, I do not hesitate to go commercial, and I don't feel badly about it.
FWIW, I know people who still run their offices on DOS Wordperfect versions, and these folks are giving serious consideration to OOO right now as a way to upgrade to a GUI office suite. They don't want to shell out hundreds per seat for MS Office.
YMMV, but ultimately, I think OSS will win/lose on the merits of the software rather than any ideological notion about how software should be created/licensed/distributed, etc. Upfront costs are a significant issue for me as well, but if the OSS software was not good, I wouldn't use it, even if it were free.
Lots of petrified grits