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Where do open source IT solutions make the most sense, and what are your favorites?
Editors at Focus recently published "Open Source, Open World," a time line of open source developments in multiple fields across the globe (at http://www.focus.com/fyi/information-technology/open-source-open-world/). But where business technology is concerned, where do open source solutions make the most business sense -- in the infrastructure, on users' systems, on servers, elsewhere or not at all? And what specific open source solutions do you like best, and why?
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7 Answers
This is a very situational issue.
In a company where the users are very computer-savvy then open-source on the desktop can be very powerful. In a company like mine, where users are chemical professionals then they need plenty of support and compliance to standards.
Infrastructure however is a different situation. I use plenty of open-source tools, from BSD, open-solaris OS'es, and the rest of the AMP stack to provide file servers, ftp, nameservers, web-servers, applications, security gateways, firewalls and access to the internet around the clock. End-users only have to see the functionality that these things expose and they do that very well. I can do the worrying about the innards of how to support them.
Infrastructure is probably the best place to get started. As stated by Mr. Geppart, users will rarely notice this kind of implementation. I have implemented iSCSI and NFS storage using various Open Source tools (Ubuntu, OpenFiler) with much success. This allowed re-use of server hardware that otherwise may have been obsoleted.
Open Source OS are very stable for webservers, FTP targets, IM platforms, network management applications, etc.
In addition I have used Open Source in VoIP phone applications (Asterisk) and as part of a SaaS environments (not mine, in my vendor's, so I am using open source by default). As others stated, it is situational, but I hazzard a guess that it is already more prevelant in day to day working lives than most would suspect.
Michael,
Open-source solutions make the most sense where they can legitimately solve a business issue. I've used them in infrastructure (where they are most mature and easiest to deploy), on servers, and even on user's desktops.
Firefox, Google Chrome, and FileZilla are all examples of end-user applications and utilities that are open-source.
On the server side, there are FTP servers, CRM systems (SugarCRM), email systems, collaboration (Drupal, Joomla) and others.
The key is to ensure that they solve a business need, and that they can be supported to the level needed by the organization for the function that they serve.
-ASB: http://xeesm.com/AndrewBaker
Mostly in php / mysql web marketing or web based application development for small and midsized businesses. Quick delivery and an abundance of staff in India at $5.00 to $5.50 per hour, although some of the Northern parts of India are already charging well over $6.00 per hour.
Some well respected software solutions are offered in open source, however, mostly for small to mid-sized businesses.
In the enterprise world it usually converts into never-ending development cycles, etc... It has become a model of security issues, since no-one really owns the code and everyone assumes that someone else's code is secure.
There's even ERP packages available, however, what you save in licensing, you usually end up paying in bug fixes and implementation time. Depending on the cost of each, open source should always be considered.
It has to be infrastructure. Although "IT Pro's" think that these "almost as good" apps will work on the desktop. They create support problems. However, apache and mysql are superb products.
My own "pet" example is an ftp server for a client that ran without reboot or any maintenance (none) for two years set up using Mandrake (long gone) from the front of a magazine. Absolutely critical line of business process to provide a service for their biggest customer. It never failed. 24 x7 every hour data transfer. (Only meant to run for 3 months!)
Open source applications have a place in the enterprise. They can reduce the cost of software licensing where users need basic word processing and spreadsheet functionality. They can also assist management with license violation issues. I have recommended open source solutions for clients who were not in compliance with Microsoft licensing, saving the client over $250,000 in licensing fees without lost functionality. Open source application function very close to "brand name" applications so the learning curve is very short. User acceptance is also easily managed.
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