Open-Source Options for Small Business

"Perhaps the easiest place to begin with open source is at the desktop. Simply add a few Linux desktops and get a feel for how it works. Most organizations can do this without consuming too much time learning or administering it.

"Unfortunately, the land of Linux can get pretty complex when you try to define all the possible choices. There are so many variants and offshoots that we decided to focus on only a handful of the more popular options.

"SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop by Novell has a growing presence among SMBs. You can choose from a variety of subscriptions including: $50 per year per user with minimal support; $120 for a year with better support; and $220 per year for top-notch support. According to Grant Ho, a Novell product marketing manager, the software takes less than 30 minutes to install. Whitelaw Twining, a Canada-based law firm, replaced outdated Windows 98 and 2000 desktops with SUSE. This move saved the company 30 percent in hardware costs and reduced desktop maintenance time by 20 percent.

""Migrating from Windows 2000 to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is no more difficult for end users than migrating to Windows Vista," said Richard Giroux, IT manager at Whitelaw Twining. “We did a little training with our users up front and have had almost no help-desk calls since."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Do Open Source Companies *Really* Support Free Software?(Mar 31, 2009)
• Server Sales Fall 14 Percent in Q4(Feb 26, 2009)
• Connecting to Windows servers from GNU/Linux using pyNeighborhood(Feb 20, 2009)
• Samba - The Interoperability Dance(Feb 18, 2009)
• Linux's Active Directory Killer Is A Step Closer(Jan 23, 2009)
• Active Directory comes to Linux with Samba 4(Jan 19, 2009)
• No Accounting Software for Linux?(Nov 25, 2008)
• Lenovo Offers 60-Day Money Back Guarantee On Linux and Windows Servers(Nov 14, 2008)
• How to Integrate windows Active Directory and Samba in Ubuntu(Nov 12, 2008)
• Lenovo Servers Debut With Windows, Linux Support(Oct 29, 2008)
• How to Network Vista, XP, Linux and OS X(Oct 21, 2008)