Open source brings some significant benefits to businesses large and small – but you might be surprised by some of the uses.
Some inevitable changes have occurred in technology. For example, open source software has found its way into your work. 10 years ago, this might have been called a problem. Now? It’s impossible to avoid using open source technology – and there’s no reason to avoid it. With so many powerful (and necessary) aspects of technology, open source has become the savior of technology in many ways. But which parts of your work are best suited for open source software? Of course, the answer to this question will vary from company to company. However, many applications can be applied to almost every scenario.
Let’s look at these 10 probably best use methods, which can help your company grow, bring you flexibility and reliability you’ve never experienced before, or just help you save a considerable budget.
1: Server Software
If you’re still struggling with Microsoft’s IIS platform, you need to experience Apache. This flagship open source software is one of the most widely used web server software on the planet. Apache is free, extremely reliable, easy to manage, and doesn’t require as many resources as IIS. However, open source is not limited to web servers. If you need to use SMB to share resources within the company, you can try Samba. Samba 4 even integrates Active Directory (AD), so you don’t need to worry about setting up separate user accounts on the Samba server.
2: Development
Developing with open source is very simple. PHP, Rails, Perl – there are many open source development languages and development tools (from integrated development environments to debugging). There are many options for developing for open source or with open source tools (just like using commercial software development). The biggest difference between open source software and commercial software is that open source can access the software source code. In the world of free open source software (FOSS), the code is public. For many developers, Linux operating system has everything they need for development and building (especially for those who don’t have a mature environment to write code). If you need graphical user interface (GUI) development tools, open source can also meet you.
3: Security
The road to security is full of challenges, but there are still many ways to achieve it. You can choose a “security box” solution, follow the pace of Cisco (a reliable solution), or you can use iptables to create the security that best suits your needs. Yes, the open source security path will require more time to configure (with a high learning barrier), but the results are usually good. Not even emphasizing one point, generally speaking, using open source on the desktop is a more secure platform than most closed systems. Deploying Linux on the desktop will greatly reduce your security pain points.
4: Desktop
Linux desktop is a place that most people don’t recognize. Nevertheless, you must consider the fact that your daily workflow has undergone a major mindset shift. Most of what we do now is through web browsers. So why not deploy Linux to the desktop? Not only can it do many of the jobs you do today, but it also doesn’t suffer from viruses, malware, and system-breaking updates. It’s not perfect – but which platform dares to say it’s perfect? But it’s powerful, and finally, it can save your expenses. This is a win-win situation.
5: Workflow
Every job depends on workflow. For some jobs, a smooth workflow depends on the tools used. Open source has already stepped onto this stage. CRM (Customer Relationship Management), HRM (Human Resource Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), BI (Business Intelligence), BPM (Business Process Management) … As long as you can name it, open source can do almost everything you can think of – and do it well. With Pentaho, Collabtive and SugarCRM, open source can keep pace with the latest source tools at any time.
6: Collaboration
Without the ability to work on projects together, your employees can’t do their jobs well. So the collaboration tools you choose are very important. You will find a large number of high-quality collaboration tools in the open source world. Cyn.in Community Edition, Zimbra Open Source Edition and Kolab are all good collaboration tools, but these are just three representatives in the open source world.
7: Big Data
In the past, when talking about big data, open source was not often thought of. Thanks to the efforts of SUSE, big data and open source can now work hand in hand. Many inventions such as in-memory data and kernel hot patching have made open source an ideal solution for big data. It can perfectly meet the large number of requirements needed by big data on the platform, while closed software cannot reach such a flexible level.
8: Cloud
The major players in the cloud are open source. Red Hat, Ubuntu, SUSE, Amazon, Rackspace – they all provide cloud services and believe that open source is the best solution for cloud configuration. However, if you don’t want to use services from big companies, there are still many rising stars like OwnCloud, you can choose OwnCloud’s hosted cloud solution or build your own set.
9: Multimedia
If your company does podcasts or makes videos for product launches, open source can serve you. With tools like Audacity and OpenShot, you can do whatever you need with audio and video – and it’s very cheap. In fact, you will feel it’s hard to find a better podcast tool than Audacity, or a more user-friendly video editor than OpenShot. Without too high a learning barrier or the high costs required by closed source software tools, open source software has done a good job in helping you create professional-level works.
10: E-commerce
If you do online sales, you’re too slack if you don’t try tools like PrestaShop. PrestaShop is one of the most powerful e-commerce solutions, easy to obtain – no license required. PrestaShop has all the features you might want (and some you might not have thought of), and this open source platform has gone beyond the scope of e-commerce at any level.
FOSS for Business
Open source is no longer limited to the scope of business communication. In many cases, FOSS has dominated this communication. If you’re already looking for areas to apply open source solutions, just look at the 10 items above.
It’s Your Turn
Have you already used open source in your work? If so, which method does it belong to?
Reprinted with permission: Developer Relations »
