Monday, November 13, 2006
Open Source
The power of Open Source is that of thousands of programmers producing some pretty amazing products for free. Some of my favourite open source packages include…
Linux (duh!) Operating System
PHProjekt Project Management
Bugzilla Bug Management
VideoLan Client Video Client
RAR Expander Expansion Software
Audacity Audio Capture Tool
In some ways this makes open source ideal for non-profits. The tools don’t cost much of anything but time. My advice to non-profits thinking about using open source is to think about the cost of deployment. While the software doesn’t cost anything, learning to use it or install it can be a bear. It is often worth the cost to have an “expert” teach you or work with you to ensure deployment goes smoothly.
At WESTAF we have deployed many open source packages and adapted some of the software to serve our particular needs. We make use of contracted programmers to increase our bandwidth to work with our clients and to keep project costs lower.
Working with open source is excellent, but be careful that deployment doesn’t cost more than licensing commercial solutions.
Linux (duh!) Operating System
PHProjekt Project Management
Bugzilla Bug Management
VideoLan Client Video Client
RAR Expander Expansion Software
Audacity Audio Capture Tool
In some ways this makes open source ideal for non-profits. The tools don’t cost much of anything but time. My advice to non-profits thinking about using open source is to think about the cost of deployment. While the software doesn’t cost anything, learning to use it or install it can be a bear. It is often worth the cost to have an “expert” teach you or work with you to ensure deployment goes smoothly.
At WESTAF we have deployed many open source packages and adapted some of the software to serve our particular needs. We make use of contracted programmers to increase our bandwidth to work with our clients and to keep project costs lower.
Working with open source is excellent, but be careful that deployment doesn’t cost more than licensing commercial solutions.
