"Before he bought Los Tomases Candle Makers, Bill Peer helped build expensive ecommerce sites for big companies like J. Crew, using proprietary software from start to finish. Now, in his own business, he uses open source osCommerce--after trying a proprietary package that didn't give him the flexibility he needed.
"We often forget that it's not big businesses that need open source most, but small businesses like Bill's. He bought Los Tomases after years of high-hustle corporate work. 'I wanted something calming,' he says. The previous owner, master candlemaker Lamar Sloan, is still there, concentrating on the candles themselves while Bill takes care of sales and marketing..."
