My wife and I started a web development company back in June of this past year 2007. In doing so we sought out using open source applications to help us run our business from the beginning to help us save money. Using open source software rather than proprietary software would enable us to keep as low of an overhead as possible. In searching for alternatives to open source software (paid software) that could actually benefit our business and what we are doing, it was striking to find out how much money we could have been spending. I won’t waste my time and explain to you the paid software applications we were interested in purchasing. But rather, I will share with you what open source applications we have been able to use instead saving us an estimated about of $100,000 and counting. I say counting because unfortunately most paid software programs find a way to come out with new versions every year so that you can be charged yet again.
The List Looks Like This
For our website = Drupal Content Management System
For our Documentation = MediaWiki
For our Operating Systems = Fedora Linux Operating System
For our Weblog = Wordpress
For our Email Clients = Mozilla Thunderbird
For our Calendars = Mozilla Sunbird
For our Shopping Cart = Zen Cart
For our CRM = Sugar CRM
For our Accounting = GnuCash
For our Social Network = Elgg
For our Web Based Email = Squirrel Mail
For our Helpdesk = Cerberus
For our Document Mgmt. = KnowledgeTree
For our Timeclock = PHP Timeclock
For our office productivity = OpenOffice
The last thing we configured in was our web hosting costs. Because of open source software our Bluehost account is only costing us $6.95/month for 1,500 GB of hosting space and 15 TB of transfer. This alone, because we are a web business is saving us a ton of money!
Through costs of software, and also development costs to build some of these tools, we estimated that our company was able to save $100,000 because of these open source applications. Can you say Wow! I am in no way counting in what these applications have made for us thus far. That would be an entirely different number. This is just money saved. That’s it.
How is this possible? It’s possible because of all the good people out there who believe that open source should exist. What’s surprising to me is that many companies still continue to live in ignorance of these wonderful tools. I want to know how much money you have saved due to open source! Please leave your comment and share with us your numbers. Thanks
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February 1st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
[...] ChaseSagum.com This entry was written by Tizz, posted on February 1, 2008 at 6:26 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. « Welcome to CandyFOSS! [...]
February 1st, 2008 at 9:01 pm
The question is, how much money did you give to all these projects?
If you have saved some money, would be nice to contribute with money also!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I started a website with my business partner about two months ago. We also use Fedora and all open source products. We were able to put more money into buying a really powerful server. We easily saved $50,000, which was huge, since we didn’t have $50,000 to spend.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:45 pm
“unfortunately most paid software programs find a way to come out with new versions every year so that you can be charged yet again.”
And in no way you have to upgrade just because the manufacturer released an upgrade; sometimes upgrade versions are cheaper.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Thats heartening. We develop opensource software though not any of the projects you mentioned. You could give something back. Just a suggestion of course. You could help in documenting one of the projects if money is an issue. That will be a great help. Else, you can explore the projects and find an opportunity to pay for one small enhancement which you think will be required by a lot of people.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:59 am
It is good to hear that some people have realised that open source + Linux are not just for geeks and can actually be used in business.
But please, please contribute something back to the projects which are ‘feeding’ you.
All the best,
DB
February 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 am
I have saved thousands of dollars on hardware and software, thanks to Open Source Software. I give back to the community by providing support for other end users, and buying OS hardware products (Like for example the Nokia N770/N800, Asus Eee PC, Linux Mobile phones and MP3 players) that only supports OSS. I also give back by providing marketing and showing Adds (using Youtube).
When I get my own website I will only promote as many OSS adverts as I can. And its possible that I could support or host (like a provider) a OSS project for free too.
This following URL shows my support for the installation with Ubuntu-7.04 on a Dell inspiron 1520 Notebook :-
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=501195
This following URL is my youtube user account showing a robot dog based on a open source project and will one day use the Nokia N800 as its controller unit :-
http://www.youtube.com/user/linux23dragon
I can go on. sorry.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:36 am
Myself and a couple of friends are working on / with process control + ERP + CRM integration and the coveted “BI” capabilities. Building a seamless solution with Opensource / “free software” when we get it turned into a product 5% goes to a fund for opensource developers; its only fair when we look at the help and quality of the community. We hope to increase that amount over time; it’s hard to be greedy when people live paycheck to paycheck and corps are paying 10’s of millions to their “CEO, CFO etc…” on the backs of others, how much is enough, we just want a decent life and raise our children we don’t need billions or millions… rather it is better to share the proceeds so others can enjoy as well and see a future beyond counting the days to the next paycheck with worry and trepidation over expenses
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:44 am
I use Ubuntu, and have saved alot of money (not sure how much, but know it is a lot). I like the fact that there is open source project to help keep cost down. I also encourage everyone to help the cause. My philosophy is simple: if you use the software and like it donate $5 or $10. For example if a 100 000 P X $10 = a lot of money. I rather give money to open source than to MS or others…. Great job promoting open source and good luck with the business.
Chears,
DS
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
[...] Open Source Saved Me $100,000 [...]
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
first of all, thank you for spreading the GoodNews of Opensource. the great thing you done is sharing how successful is the opensource in business.
As more and more people joins the Opensource movement, the projects will get more and more support.
Support is not only in terms of Money, it can be our own additions/modifications to opensource code.
It can be even an idea (for new improvements, by joining the discussion forums and mailing list).
It can be a word of advertisement (as you have done).
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Now if only our school systems were graduating high school students who could understand 1/10th of what this actually means. Don’t get me wrong, knowing that a couple of web design geeks can put all this together( or hire someone who can ) is great but I think we techies already know this. What would be really great is if you started a web page with instructions on how you set it up and business reasons for that. Atleast then, some PHB might find it, or get pointed to it, be able to figure out what it might mean to his/her business or department.
I know businesses using MS Excel for problem reporting and have mentioned things like Trac to them many times. So while the geeks know how useful all this open source stuff can be, the run a the mill business suits stick with what they know and that is still Microsoft. Education is the way forward, hopefully you’ll find a way to help pass on the savings.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Hi, I find it strange that people want you to donate. Iv put a lot of my time into opensource software and dont begrudge people who earn money from features/tools I write, not do I want them to donate.
The thing I like about opensource is there are (almost) no strings attached, so people should be able to use without feeling guilty for doing well with oss.
Ofcourse, if your rolling in cash - why not donate ;),
You could contract developers to make enhancements or fixes you need. this helps the oss ecosystem too and keeps developers in touch with their users needs.
regarding not having to upgrade commercial software, ofcourse you dont have to. if it works well the way it is thats fine, but in other cases youd want to keep up to date for security reasons eg.
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
And in no way you have to upgrade just because the manufacturer released an upgrade; sometimes upgrade versions are cheaper.
So, back when you purchased Word95 you felt that it was all you’d need.
But last week, when you sent a *.doc document to one of your customers-vendors-clients-state/fed agencies, you got an email back stating that they cannot read your document in their Office 2007 Word application, nor send you a response in a format your WP could read. They’ve informed you that you’ll have to send all further correspondence to them in the Office 2007 *.docx format. They would have used the *.doc format but a recent automatic update removed that capability.
Visiting your local software vendor you discover that Office 2007 cost FOUR times as much as your Word95 app costs because you didn’t qualify for an update discount.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
you can open source or you can open your wallet to Monopoly$oft and watch them empty it.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I agree with a lot of these comments. It is wonderful to see companies stating how they can use open source. How wonderful would it be if you could contribute back to the community of programmers who made this possible? A lot of people would like to see better documentation, case studies, or certain things that developers and users would like to see introduced but there are no funds for.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
They just did give something back! Publicity! Which is probably worth more than anything else they might be able to give back if they’re not programmers or documentation writers. This post has been picked up on other sites.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 am
I’m not sure that all the estimates that are given here are correct.
But it is very good to know that you’ve saved anything at all.
The open source software is allowing people to bootstrap company in a much easier way than it used to be!
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 pm
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February 5th, 2008 at 2:27 am
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