Suite! More Open Source Enterprise Productivity Apps
Call this the small business desktop version of enterprise open source. Novell has released a “Desktop-to-Server Software Suite” (wasn’t this once called client-server?) based on SUSE Enterprise Linux and Novell GroupWise at the server end and the OpenOffice productivity suite at the desktop. More details here.
A quick search in the EOS Directory’s Office and Client Applications category shows a number of rated desktop projects, including OpenOffice. We’ve even got a rating graphic for them:
Ratings and recommendations are one way to explore enterprise open source solutions — but trust only comes from experience. It’s my view that IT execs who are still on the fence about implementing an open source solution need to take one out for a spin. As was true back when personal computers first made their appearance on corporate desks, it was the basic desktop productivity applications that first gave IT managers proof these systems might be an improvement over their existing computing infrastructure. Take a look in the EOS Directory and see.
P.S. Turns out I wasn’t the only one thinking about this topic today. The Wall Street Journal’s Lee Gomes asks “How Far Behind Is Linux?” in today’s Portals column. He points out:
“When Google gives you a search result, a Linux machine is doing the work. At tens of thousands of other companies, computer managers take comfort in the fact that these days, no one ever gets fired for “buying” open source.”
But Gomes adds that even Linus Torvalds own family members run Windows desktop systems. Gomes notes the reduced cost and other virtues of open source alternatives, including Ubuntu. After trying it himself, he exhorts: “Everything about Ubuntu worked as billed, but don’t take my word for it. Test-drive it yourself at Ubuntu.com.”
So both the Wall Street Journal and I think you should take open source for a test drive, if you haven’t done so already. See you around the block.
Entries (RSS)