Revision as of 18:24, 15 April 2023 by 192.186.131.215 (talk) (Created page with "The obvious benefit may be the price (It's generally free!) The downside could it be can be difficult to set up, support and manage . We go through the pros and cons and provi...")(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The obvious benefit may be the price (It's generally free!) The downside could it be can be difficult to set up, support and manage . We go through the pros and cons and provide you a few good resources and show you how to evaluate the packages your considering.Opensource software is software that is developed by people who have a real intereset in developing applications for everybody to use free of charge. The largest repository of opensource software online is http://www.sourceforge.net.Keypoints of open source software1. It's free to use and usually distributed free of charge. Some companies will package it up and make it a little easier to install, because of this they charge a little fee. Others will sell the merchandise but then give you free support for a limited time.2. Most open source software is developed for the linux platform. Before considering adopting linux being an operating system you'll need to ensure you have quick access to linux support people. One really good tech, who happens to be the same guy who sold you the software isn't good enough. He'll find yourself owning your business.3. Because the os's and programming languages the program is developed in are themselves open source, installation, support and upgrades could be exceedingly difficult.How to evaluate an open source solution.Despite what your IT staff or consultant might say you wish to evaluate any open source solution you're considering. The depth of the evaluation would depend on the complexity of the answer. An apache web server will be fairly quick to judge. A CRM solution for thirty sales representatives and many hundred customers will require at least a couple weeks of testings.The first step is to set up a test bed server. This is often a older server, just something reliable and fast enough to approximate real life results. As we've mentioned before most open source software is linux based so you're going to need to decide on a linux distribution. Red Hat linux and Suse linux are two of the greatest and both are supported by the companies that distribute them. Suse linux is currently owned by Novell. More than likely you'll need a development environment and a sql server. Make certain the technican loads a distribution package to get this done. The very best for Apache, MYsql and PHP is Xampp that may be downloaded at apachefriends.org. Don't let your techs let you know they've got an easier way by simply installing it piece by piece, you'll end up paying for it later.Have your technicians document the installation process, get the application stable and step back from the test. If they are spending each day with the end users resolving little problems it must be a red flag that the perfect solution is is not stable.Make sure that the application you're considering has some external support. This can be as simple as a forum of users but they're should be a place you can go to for basic support issues. Also make sure the application has a user manual. Many open source packages are released with only several sentences describing the installation process.This next step is extremely important. You have to test for failing. Have the techs rebuild the machine from scratch and restore each of the data. Whether it's not done within a day, that's another red flag.After the evaluation consider these questions.We're most people able to make use of the software inside a day or two?Was it an easy task to restore from the simulated crash?Were problems fixed in a timely manner?Did the software stay ready to go throughout the test?Did they customers feel just like they benefited from utilizing the application?Eric Gurr is a senior editor at Smbrsource. Contact Mr. Gurr at egurr@intralinkinc.com [1]