Linux Open Source Software for Business

In 2004 I experimented and tested an open source software called Red Hat Linux. The benefit was the software was free. I was able to install a Linux server, an Apache server, and open office… all for free.

Apache is a web server software while Open Office is similar to Microsoft Office. In some sense Open Office was even better than Microsoft Office because you could save documents, spreadsheets, and presentations as Adobe PDF files. And again, this software was free.

So Linux and free open source software looked promising, and I started to market the solution to businesses. There was some interest, but there was a big limitation to implementing Linux in a corporate environment.

First, businesses usually have existing accounting systems, which cannot run on Linux. Second, Linux had no official body to handle support issues. And finally, companies such started to charge better packaged versions of Linux.

So for corporates, it was difficult to switch from a Microsoft to Linux environment. But what about for personal home use? Again I found myself using Microsoft products mainly because I had applications that ran on Microsoft and not on Linux.

I guess the saying is true, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

More info...