Free Open Source Software Availability

If your business runs on Windows — as most still do — and you are considering the possibilities of Free Open Source Software (FOSS) you are undoubtedly concerned about the availability of software suitable for your business needs. There are thousands of high-quality freely available Open Source programs which can meet most if not all of the needs of your business.

This article will provide a glimpse at some of the software you are most likely to need in your business, some software that is more specialized, as well as links to some other web sites where you can find thousands of programs available. In fact there are usually several different programs available to fill each need. Sometimes making the choice can be easy and other times not so much. This can be especially true when the programs overlap as they do in email, contact management, calendaring and PIM software.

The Common Bits

Almost every business needs certain types of common software. These provide the basics of email, web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets and general office suite software, as well as accounting and Personal Information Management software. In fact most users only need the basic software types outlined in this section and only a few users in any company required the more specialized software.

There is a plethora of Free Open Source Software available to meet these needs. In addition to the very brief overview of available software here on this page, our Links page has a large number of links to specific Open Source Software as well as to web sites that are repositories of large numbers of Open Source programs.

Email Client

Most people have heard about Thunderbird, the Open Source email client, even if they don’t use it. More people use Thunderbird every day because it is a fine email client with a large number of features, including some very nice ones to help manage spam. Thunderbird is a descendant of the Mozilla integrated email and web browser software from a few years ago and will be very familiar if you ever used Mozilla.

In fact there is also an integrated suite of Internet software descended from Mozilla called Seamonkey. In addition to an email client Seamonkey provides an IRC client as well as an HTML editor that you can use to quickly create simple web pages.

There is also an email client called Kmail that can also be used as part of the Kontact PIM. Other email clients such as Pine Elm and Mutt are designed to be used only in a text mode environment and do not have a GUI interface.

Web Browser

Firefox is the most commonly used Open Source web browser and it is one of the bits of Open Source software with which most people are likely to be familiar. Firefox, like all Open Source Software is highly configurable. It allows you to prevent pop-up windows and can restrict the automated launch of Java programs which is a major security flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Tabbed Browsing in Firefox allows you to have multiple web sites open simultaneously in a single window.

Tabbed Browsing in Firefox allows you to have multiple web sites open simultaneously in a single window.

My favorite Firefox feature is tabbed browsing which allows me to have multiple web sites open simultaneously in a single window. In the figure above I have three web site open, CNN, Yahoo and my own Millennium Technology Consulting LLC web site. Click on a tab to show that web site. You can double click the open area in the tab bar to open a new tab, or you can right click an existing tab and choose “New Tab” from the pop-up menu.

SeaMonkey also provides a fine web browser with tabbed browsing. It also contains an integrated email client and IRC client as well as an HTML editor that you can use to quickly create simple web pages. Other web browsers include Konqueror, which is also a powerful file manager, Epiphany, and Opera.

There are also text mode web browsers, Links and Lynx. You would be astounded at how fast web sites load when you only get the text and none of the advertising images and annoying little movies.

Office Suite

Office Suites are an important class of software in virtually every business. They generally provide a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation and a drawing program.

The three primary office suites for Linux are OpenOffice, GnomeOffice and KOffice. KOffice and OpenOffice have the four primary applications mentioned above. Both also have databases and formula editors. GnomeOffice has a Word Processor, AbiWord and spreadsheet, Gnumeric as well as a document viewer and Evolution, a groupware and email client compatible with Microsoft Exchange.

Each of these programs offers a high degree of compatibility with their Microsoft counterparts. That means that you can access and work with the vast majority of Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents. OpenOffice also provides compatibility with documents that might still be hanging around in your archives such as those created by WordPerfect.

Individual Office Programs

There are also office type programs that are available but which do not belong to a complete office suite or which are also available stand-alone. These include the word processors such as AbiWord and spreadsheets such as Gnumeric.

Accounting

There are many good Open Source accounting programs available. I use GnuCash for both my personal and small business accounting. GnuCash uses standard double-entry accounting and has a very easy to use wizard for the initial set up of your books. It allows use of multiple sets of books, interacts with your on-line banking and can automatically update stock prices for your portfolio.

Other accounting packages are very full-featured and appropriate for larger businesses, such as PostBooks which includes complete ERP and CRM modules. There are a number of other Open Source accounting packages available as well.

Personal Information Management

I use Kontact Personal Information Management (PIM) software. It is very full-featured and supports many groupware and collaboration servers including Exchange, Open-Exchange, Kolab, eGroupWare, and Citadel.

Less Common Office Software

Database

OpenOffice and Koffice both have database software, but for high powered SQL databases there are also MySQL and PostGrSQL. The OpenOffice database software has the neat feature of allowing you to connect with and manage existing databases that are based on open standards such as SQL and ODBC.

Groupware

Groupware is software that allows groups of people, i.e., employees in a company, to collaborate, communicate and schedule meetings and activities. There are several of these Open Source Groupware products available which integrate well with the Kontact PIM, including Open-Exchange, Kolab, eGroupWare, and Citadel.

Other collaboration software is also available, such as Scalix, which although it is Open Source, provides a free of charge Community edition that supports up to ten premium users and other editions may be purchased. Note that even Open Source Software is not necessarily free of charge.

Open Source Web Sites

There are many web sites that are dedicated to Open Source Software. I have listed here a few of the more active ones which you should feel free to explore. You will be amazed at the number of choices available to your business.

Ready to Get Started?

There is much more Open Source Software available than I have the time to explore and write about. I will add more to this page as I find time and encounter new and interesting software. This information should give you an idea of what is available and enable you to begin thinking about how Open Source Software can help your business. In addition to this page, our Links page has a large number of links to specific Open Source Software as well as to web sites that are repositories of large numbers of Open Source programs.

The vast majority of this software is available not only for Linux, but also for other operating systems such as Windows as well. This means that you can test it out before you make the switch to Linux to ensure that it will meet your needs. And because it is all free software you don’t have anything to lose by trying it.

Unfortunately many computer consultants are not aware of the full range of software that is available under FOSS licenses. Frankly, even those of us who specialize in Linux and Open Source Software don’t know the full extent of available software until someone asks us to find a program to meet a particular need. Of course Millennium Technology Consulting LLC can help you locate and choose the Free Open Source Software you need for your business. Contact us today.

dboth | datetime May 30, 2009 4:03 pm

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  1. Millennium Technology Consulting LLC » Availability of Open Source Applications — May 30, 2009 @ 4:14 pm