Open Source Software Benefits
Open Source software provides low cost, high value software
following open standards. This software can be peer reviewed to achieve better
quality and reliability without vendor lock in. Open standards allow documents
to interact effectively across applications.
Open Source Software Advantages
- Cut operating costs for software and licenses.
- Scale to software requirement changes quickly.
- Scale up virtual computing environments with less licensing issues.
- Less issue with product versions not being backward compatible.
- Lower hardware requirements in most cases.
- See how software is built at code level. Modify to suit your needs.
- Try software for free to see if it suits your needs.
- Learn about software user interfaces and software interoperability.
- Build specialized software using existing open source components.
Open Source Software Disadvantages
- Product upgrades may be a manual process in some cases
- Training staff to work with new applications
- Conversion of document types may be required
- Lots of open source projects are small scale with little community support
Application Examples
| Application Type | Proprietary Application | Open Source Application |
| Email Client | Outlook | Thunderbird, Evolution, Postbox |
| Email Server | Exchange | Sendmail |
| Database Server | Microsoft SQL, Oracle | My SQL |
| Web Site Server | Internet Information Server | Apache, Joomla, WAMP, MAMP, LAMP, XAMP |
| File Server | Windows 2003/2008 server | Samba |
| Office Applications | Microsoft Office | Open Office, Office Apps OO, Star Office, Neo Office, Abi
Word |
| Operating System | Windows XP/Vista/2003/2008,MacOX |
Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, SuSE, RedHat Fedora, Knoppix) |
| Internet Browser | Internet Explorer, Safari | Firefox, Chrome, Camino |
| HTML Editors for web pages | Dreamweaver | komposer, Joomla, Drupal, Plone, Notepad++ |
| Image Editors | Photoshop | Gimp, Paint.NET |
| Backup | NtBackup | Rdiff-backup, Drive Image XML |
| Anti Virus | Norton 360, Trend Micro | amavsid, Span Assassin, F-Secure |
| Programming | Visual Studio .NET | Eclipse, Java, Gcc, Ruby on Rails, Mono.NET plus lots of others |
| VOIP Telephony | NEC soft phones | Asterisks on local server |
| Virtual Servers | VMware, Windows 2008 Server | Xen, QEMU |
| Virtual Computer/s on a Desktop | VMware Workstation, VMware Player, Microsoft Virtual PC | Xen, Virtual Box |
Open Source Implementation Considerations
- Desktop hardware with Linux appear to be approximately $250 cheaper that Microsoft Vista Business.
- A further saving of approximately $230 can be made by using Open Office instead of Microsoft Office.
- Consider if local server consolidation using virtualization may improve local server utilization, reduce space needed, reduce power needs & reduce cooling needs.
- Can older hardware be used for thin client virtual desktop applications reducing the hardware refresh cycle costs.
Open Source Software References
http://sourceforge.net/ Over 230,000
Open Source Software Projects to browse, download and try. Over 34 million site
visits per month.
http://www.novell.com/linux/products.html Netbook,
Desktop, Server, Virtual Server operating systems with open source application
lists.
http://sites.force.com/appexchange/apex/home Software
as a Service Provider