Discussion on:

Never underestimate the amount of open source software available

I agree. There are some really interesting licenses and business models behind many of these Open Source applications.
I use some of this stuff today.

I don't think the question is really about how many Open Source applications are out there. The real question any time you consider open vs proprietary is "Does it adequately fill my needs?"

But it should be asked *anytime* you're considering software, even if it's a proprietary vs. proprietary decision. After all, there may be technical support inherent with the purchase of proprietary software, but there's usually a limitation on it (either in how long it's available or how much they'll provide to the individual end-users of an enterprise product). Sure, you can probably find the FAQ on Microsoft's website that explains what a particular Outlook error code refers to... but you can bet that if the code even remotely refers to the connection between your PC & the mail server you use, Microsoft's tech support people will tell you to contact your server's IT department.

I think sometimes that's one of the biggest failings of corporations when it comes to IT. They're wary of incorporating open-source software because it tends to increase the amount of time their IT personnel will need to devote to tech support, not because the software is "buggier" than proprietary software, but because the IT personnel will have to spend time (& therefore money) familiarizing themselves with the software to a level that will enable them to provide in-house support -- yet forget that those same personnel already have a certain level of in-house tech support they'll be expected to provide on the *proprietary* software.

no text, just a question

i agree to the this question because it must be said that many small open source projects at sourceforge are dead or not maintained any more do to lack of support from the maker or designer. often the forum boards are not even in use.

Of course the most projects are perfectly maintained and support is available.

From all the software that I'm using is about 90% open source or freeware software and i must say it works perfectly well, but there are a few that have trouble with support and the makers doesn't even reply on questions anymore.

My conclusion: if there is little or no support for an open source program you have to be able to figure out problems yourself or elsewhere on the internet. if you can fine, but if you can't look elsewhere for another program

Quite frankly, I feel that "choice" is overrated. I've been in too many IT situations where there were lots of "acceptable" or "adequate" choices, but none that really met all of the needs. Anyone making IT decisions with price as their #1 concern is making a big mistake. The price of software (or hardware) is only part of the TCO and ROI equations. Things like training, difficulty in implementing, quality of support, and more are all part of it too.

I've had too many times where I chose a solution that had $0 license fee (both open source and closed source) and ended up getting burned very badly to know otherwise.

J.Ja

9/10ths of the stuff you find on sourceforge isn't ready for primetime and never will be.

Now by many people's standards, some software I consider great at serving it's purpose, stinks, because it's manipulated on a command line instead of a gui. These folks don't know what they're talking about.

But when you find something that just will not do what it's supposed to...the stuff that consistently breaks one thing to fix another...this is not enterprise grade software. Heck, it's not even Mom and Pop grade.

There are certainly a lot of projects out there, but many are trying to do the same few dozen things. There are a lot of generic apps/packages/libraries, but little that would assist me in my daily work.

For example, something that's an ongoing part of my work is building taxation modelling systems to allow us to look at the detailed tax implications of particular business decisions by our clients. Of course the laws change all the time, so the apps also need constant updates. I've looked fairly carefully and there appear to be exactly zero OS projects that are building this sort of system based on Australian Tax Law.

There are a lot of others.

Nothing would please me more than to be able to use open source software in all applications. However, in my opinion, financial software in open source simply is not as full of easy-to-use features as is proprietary software. In addition, reliable tax software does not seem to be available either. These are applications that are very important to my family and I, as we run a small family business.

iFreeBudget http://www.ifreebudget.com/

Mint mint.com NOT FOSS but Free
turboCash turbocash.net

QHacc Home Accountant http://qhacc.sourceforge.net/

Grisbi http://www.grisbi.org/

Eqonomize http://eqonomize.sourceforge.net/

GFP http://gfd.sourceforge.net/ Problem with WebSite Today

CBB is a finance management application http://freshmeat.net/projects/cbb

And this is only the ones that I have found through freshmeat.net

My experience to date is mixed on quality of OSS. I am still learning how to recognize the better pacakges.
Generally, the most active packages at Source Forge have the highest community following, developers and users and this translates to a very good application, The most downloaed at Source Forge seem to lean towards most popular and is generally a stronger indication of a good application.
I have found some good things in productivity enhancement, time tracking, ERP, Business Modeling, Mind Mapping, Document creation and Database. There are some real boners as well.
If the application that you are looking at, is the foundation of a commercial offering, has community forums supported by the vendor, and is active in new releases and development, then you are more likely to have found a quality product.

I have a client, a small legal firm, and they need a Practice Management System. The only ones we could find which actually did the job were Windows based, and most integrated with Exchange, and only Exchange. They are paying $100 per license per month for this stuff. Love to go Open Source but couldn't find a thing.

You know, something that handles both images as well as data. Does medical records, tests, report writing & analysis, integrates inpatient and outpatient records, therapy, billing, complaints, compliments (yes, some people are happy with their care).

One niche where I have found Open Source actually far superior to commercial offerings is in the Engineering/Scientific applications arena. In many cases, specialized packages developed for specific classes of problems, by universities or government agencies, are far more comprehensive, easier to use and understand than the "everything for everyone" approach pursued by many commercial developers. It is not even a matter of price. The available documentation is generally far superior, and the ability to examine the source code is critical in understanding the theoretical approach pursued by the developers...

Some prime examples: Scilab/Octave/R/Maxima/NIST Dataplot for mathematical analysis. CAELinux for FEA/CFD. Numerous GIS packages for geographical analysis...

I can point to a lot of projects where the software does a fantastic job of doing what it's meant to do.

Most of it is not point and click stuff though, and that turns a lot of people off.

The problem with a lot of products, wonderful as they may be, is that they're out of reach financially. If so, they're not options. I've been in the software industry since Borland (Scotts Valley, CA) 1991. I agree that the solutions that are most likely to work best and fastest cost money. But for the smaller entity or consumer it's about value -- resource investment vs. results. A lot of open source stuff is great value.