Is Open Source Software Right FOR THE Small Business

The obvious benefit is the price (It's generally free!) read more is it can be difficult to set up, support and manage . We look at the pros and cons and offer you several good resources and demonstrate how to evaluate the packages your considering.

Opensource software is software that's developed by people who have a real intereset in developing applications for everybody to use free of charge. The largest repository of opensource software on the net is http://www.sourceforge.net.

Keypoints of open source software

1. here 's absolve to use and usually distributed free of charge. Some companies will package it up and make it a little better to install, for this they charge a little fee. Other companies will sell the product but then give you free support for a restricted time.

2. Most open source software is developed for the linux platform. Before considering adopting linux being an operating system you will have to be sure to have quick access to linux support people. One really good tech, who happens to be exactly the same guy who sold you the program isn't good enough. He'll end up 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 would like to evaluate any open source solution you're considering. The depth of the evaluation is dependent on the complexity of the perfect solution is. An apache web server will be fairly quick to evaluate. A CRM solution for thirty sales people and many hundred customers will require at least a couple weeks of testings.

The first step would be to set up a test bed server. This is often a older server, just something reliable and fast enough to approximate real world results. As we've mentioned before most open source software is linux based so you are 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 firms that distribute them. Suse linux is currently owned by Novell. More than likely you may need a development environment and a sql server. Make certain the technican loads a distribution package to do this. The best for Apache, MYsql and PHP is Xampp which can be downloaded at apachefriends.org. Don't let your techs let you know they've got an easier way by just installing it piece by piece, you'll end up paying for it later.

Have your technicians document the installation process, obtain the application stable and then step back from the test. If they are spending each day with the finish users resolving little problems it should be a red flag that the answer is not stable.

Make sure that the application form you're considering has some external support. This may be as simple as a forum of users but they're must be a place it is possible to head to for basic support issues. Also make certain 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 need to test for failing. Have the techs rebuild the system from scratch and restore each of the data. If it's not done within a day, that's another red flag.

After the evaluation ask yourself these questions.

We're most people in a position to make use of the software inside a day or two?

Was Midea Microwave Oven Review to restore from the simulated crash?

Were problems fixed in a timely manner?

Did the software stay up and running throughout the test?

Did they customers feel like they benefited from utilizing the application?

Eric Gurr is really a senior editor at Smbrsource. Contact Mr. Gurr at egurr@intralinkinc.com [1]