Hosting for just $3.88/month! Find out MORE!

Tag Archive for 'open source'

Open Source at the Expense of Productivity?

Published on 26 January, 2007 in Editorial and Using Open Source. 4 Comments Tags: .

One major stopping block for business to use Open Source softwares is the steep learning curve in learning a new software. Time spent on learning new software tool (whether open source ir not) is time wasted on business productivity.

This money-time trade off is a main driver of commercial softwares. A locked-in is created once a user is productive with a software and the cost to change is higher than continue paying for it.

As a small-business owner myself, I’m frequently under the pressure of productivity. Not only my own productivity but also my staffs’ as well. Therefore it wouldn’t be realistic to enforce opensource softwares on my staffs at the expense of productivity.

But what about myself?

My Windows-Start-All ProgramsFor myself, I’m willing to spend a little time to further the goal of seeing opensource on the desktop. And I’m excited to report that I’m almost there!

Take a look at my Windows XP All Programs menu on the left. With the exception of Windows XP itself and Rising Antivirus, the remaining are free or open source softwares.

I reluctantly switched from ClamWin to Rising because extra vigilant is called for in the hostile China network environment. (Imagine even the broadband provider is trying to sneak in spywares. Despicable.)

GIMP and Inkscape is my latest goal to wean myself from the twin graphic pillar of Photoshop and Illustrator.

When I replaced my HP notebook recently, I decided to have GIMP as the exclusive image editor. This morning I completed the duo by installing Inkscape.

Having handed off most of my business critical graphic work to my staff, I can now afford to spend some time experimenting these new tools on less time-sensitive projects.

Is switching to Open Source at the expense of productivity?

At this point, I’m afraid the answer is qualified yes. I’m not sure how I can quantify and justify my time spent on using open source alternatives except for the fact that I’m an enthusiast and am willing the “pay the extra”.

It is a qualified yes because the answer applies to the case of switching to an open source alternative in the place of an existing, productive, commercial product.

What is your experience of switching to open source? Is it self-imposed? Company imposed?

Build your business with open source

Published on 23 September, 2006 in Related elsewhere and Using Open Source. 2 Comments Tags: .

This special report at InfoWorld covers many open source enterprise softwares including

  • business intelligence (BI),
  • business process management,
  • content management,
  • CRM,
  • ERP,
  • enterprise service bus,
  • identity,
  • directory,
  • portal,
  • point of sales (POS),
  • RFID and
  • VoIP.

Small or home business owners may not have the need for such entreprise class softwares but it is good to know the open source alternatives available.

Think about it, the day when a fortune 500 company and a SME uses the same open source CRM software. A possibility? Absoultely!

Why Open Source Software / Free Software?

Published on 14 September, 2006 in Editorial and Related elsewhere. 0 Comments Tags: .

Came across this article:

Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the Numbers! by David A. Wheeler.

It is a very lengthy and indepth article with plenty of links and references. I have no time to read it in fully yet.

If you are not technically inclined, you might find it too dense. In a nutshell, the article provided much support as to why businesses should pay attention to Open Source .

I do not see this article as going to convince the typical small business user. It would however a good source of reference for open source evangelist who is sharing the Open Source good news.

More free and open source softwares

Published on 4 September, 2006 in Editorial and Using Open Source. 3 Comments Tags: , .

At this juncture I had almost covered all the major free and opensource applications that I use regularly. There are still a handful of tools and utilities which I will cover.

Of course this is not all there is to opensource applications. There are still much more. Some I had planned to try, like Gimp and Inkscape while others I had heard alot but has no opportunity to use, like Blender. Still there are applications like Sunbird that I’m eagerly anticipating a release. Finally there are promising applications like Nvu that seem to have stopped development.

Do you have any favourite Free/Open source applications that you like to recommend?

Small Businesses should pay attention to Open Souce

Published on 31 August, 2006 in Using Open Source. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Found this article, Your Open Souce Plan on CIO Magazine (via Open Source Applications for Windows). The interesting point about this article is that it was written 3 years ago.

The article focused on the enterprise and how CIO are paying attention to open source, epsecially on the server end.

Open source is helping turn significant chunks of the IT infrastructure into commodities by offering alternatives to proprietary software.

Well, I believe small business owners should pay attention as well. Whether on the infrastructure or on the desktop.

IT or technology has over the years shifted from a supplementary role to an enabling role. It means that IT is no longer be a nice to have but a need to have.

For small business owners effective and resourceful leverage of open source softwares could become a competitive advantage.