Advertisment

Open-source and Free Software

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

Is open-source software suitable for emerging businesses? Is it too complex for them to handle? Before we set down to answer these questions, let us first clear up some of the standard confusion surrounding open-surce and free software.

Advertisment

To start with does something being open source affect you? The availability of the source code is unlikely to be of any use to you, unless you are into programming yourselves, in which case this piece is not for you. Traditionally, opensource software has tended to be free of cost, and that has been a big draw, even for organizations with large IT budgets. But again that does not mean that everything about open source comes for free. You will have to pay to get it implemented. 

Similarly, there is free software that is not open source. And these software too exist on multiple platforms including Windows, Linux and many more. Does it make a difference that the software is free, but not open source? Not to a user like you. Not really.

Does that mean that you should /could run your entire IT setup on free or open source software?

Advertisment

While potentially you could do that, we would strongly advise against such a step. The best IT managers in the world are mixing and matching free and commercial systems to get the best results. That is what you should do too. Each has strengths that you can and should exploit.

While open source and free software have their origins in philosophical differences on economic models, the fact is that they are here to stay and there is no reason why you should not take advantage of them.

Where to find free software?

Where can you find free and opensource software? www.sourceforge.net is an excellent source. So is www.download.com. Download.com also lists tons of shareware. Shareware is not exactly free. They are free to try. If you want to continue using them, you are expected to pay.



Many software is free for personal use, but you may have to pay for using them for business purposes. Usually you are told this at the website of the product and/or during installation so that you know before hand.
Advertisment

Free software is available for virtually every need, and to fit every size, be it the desktop or the server. You can find software for everything from productivity applications, multimedia and communication to CRM to Web servers, collaboration platforms and even

ERP.

More about Linux

Is open source = Linux? 



There is a general feeling that open source is all about Linux. Not true. Linux is the most visible of open-source software. But there are many different applications that are open source and available on platforms like Windows.

Advertisment

Is everything on Linux free?



No. While the basic Linux distribution (version) is free, many applications that run on it are not. Oracle, or DB2 or SAP are all priced on Linux, and you pay the same price for these software, whether you run them on Linux or on Windows or on any other OS. If you choose a to buy say the RedHat Enterprise edition of Linux, you would end up paying an annual maintenance fee.

What

is available?
Famous

free/Open-source software for the desktop
Category Name Platforms
Web

Browser
Mozilla

Firebird
Windows,

Linux
Mail

Client
Mozilla

Thunderbird
Windows,

Linux
Office

Suite
OpenOffice.org Windows,

Linux
Graphics

Package
Gimp Windows,

Linux
Anti

spam
Spampal Windows
Anti

virus
AVG

Free Edition
Windows
MP3

Player
Winamp Windows
Instant

Messenger
Yahoo

Messenger
Windows,

Linux
(This

is not an exhaustive list)
 

Linux distributions



A distribution is a variant. There are different distributions created to meet different needs.

Advertisment

Xandros is an easy to install and use desktop distribution. It is there in the DVD accompanying the August 2004 issue of

PCQuest.

Microsoft & free software

Microsoft has traditionally been the champion of the commercial software cause. But you would be surprised to know that Microsoft has been a champion distributor of free software for the Windows platform too. To get access to the many free and trail software from Microsoft, check out www.microsoft.com/downloads.

RedHat Enterprise Linux has workstation as well as server options available.

If you do not want to install Linux yet, but want to try it out, you can check out any of the live distributions available. A live distribution is one that does not need to be installed on the hard disk and will run off the CD. Knoppix is the first and the most famous of live distributions.

Advertisment