Opensource software is still on one the biggest secrets that most people, not only small business owners, still know little about!

OK, so what's the secret?

Opensource software is essentially free software.  At the core is the ability to get into the core program, rip it apart, change it, add and remove things, even rename it!  Why is this different?  Well, you can't do this with the likes of Microsoft, Apple or Adobe software - what you buy is what you get and, when you click that 'I have read and understand.....' button, you agree to a whole world of legal pain if you get caught!  So, you are 'free' to change things.

The most important thing to us business types is that, in most cases, the software is free to get hold of.

So, how good can it be if it is free?  Well, the server that is running this website is using a version of the Linux operating system, which is opensource.  The website is physically delivered by Apache webserver (about 75% of all websites are Apache based), with PHP programming and a mySQL database and is presented using Joomla, an opensource content management system!  Possibly the most popular shopping cart is OSCommerce (a community of 240,000 users, downloaded many times more!).

On your PC, OpenOffice is a FREE office suite, that is very compatible (not 100%, but close enough) with a big branded package - this has been downloaded over 10,000,000 (yes, that's 10 million) times;  Thunderbird is a poweful email client; Firefox & google Chrome are wonderful browsers (Maxathon is also FANTASTIC and fast).

Getting a bit deeper and more business focussed, you can look at utilities like SugarCRM, an extremely powerful CRM system, Compiere, one of the best ERP system available, webERP and TurboCASH accounting....  I could go on!

So, next time you want to get a new business server or phone system, take a few minutes to see what is out there.  Also, be careful if you are speaking to someone who has an interest in promoting the branded products - of course they will say their offer is better - they would, wouldn't they (well, don't you?).