Introduction

The first time I ever heard of free and open source software goes back to the early 2000s, when I first tried GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), a free photo editing alternative to Adobe Photoshop. At the time, I was a die-hard Photoshop user, so I dismissed it after about five minutes and never gave it any more thought. When I needed software for my business, I just drove to the nearest office supply store, found what I needed, and purchased it. In those days, I thought paid software was the only way to go (and I spent a lot). My views on that changed drastically a few short years later.

In early 2009, I was relaunching my business in a new city (my family and I relocated in late 2008). We had actually planned this move for a couple of years, but the timing of the sale of our house coincided with the unfolding Financial Crisis. Like many other families, we were impacted in a negative way. Our relationship with money was forever redefined, and careful budgeting became a top priority.

My wife, Sally, decided it was time to update her resume in order to search for work that could be done from home, so we purchased a resume creation software package for about $20.00 and a new, discontinued model computer at a deep discount. The computer (which was running Windows Vista) did not come with Microsoft Word installed. MS Word was required to use the resume creation software.

At that time MS Word cost about $100, which was more than our budget allowed. I went online in search of a possible alternative. Before long, I discovered a program called OpenOffice that claimed to be a free, fully functioning alternative to MS Word, and compatible with Word files. After downloading it and trying it out, I was very pleasantly surprised. It worked with the resume creation software just fine, and my search for a document creation program ended right there. And the best part was, the license allowed me to copy it and install it on multiple computers-all at no cost!

My discovery of OpenOffice was like finding a one hundred dollar bill I had forgotten about. With our situation the way it was, it was a truly fortunate find: Sally could work on her resume, and I could install OpenOffice on my computer and create sales letters to acquire new customers.

Who This Book Is For

This book was written primarily with business owners and managers in mind, but any frugal-minded computer user can find it useful. For the business owner who carefully watches over the expenses of her enterprise, this book points the way to some viable, free software solutions. It can be especially helpful to new, small business upstarts, serving as a reference to help quickly find viable alternatives to expensive software.

Operating capital is often limited during the early phase of launching a new venture, so (along with other common sense budgeting strategies), it pays to keep as much cash in your business as possible (Figure 1). Using free software when possible can help you accomplish this.

There are many free software titles available that you may not be aware exist. While writing this book, I took a poll of about 50 business owners (hardly a scientific survey, but it was telling). Only a couple of them had heard of free, open source programs such as GIMP or OpenOffice. Most of them didn’t know that there is a large assortment of free software programs available that could potentially save them money. The savings will vary depending on the nature of the business and its software requirements. Savings can amount to several hundred dollars annually for solo graphic design freelancers to thousands of dollars for larger organizations.

Schools, teachers, and students can benefit as well. For example, if a high school operating under tight budget restraints can’t afford the Adobe Creative Cloud lineup for a digital arts class, there are several popular open source alternatives (such as GIMP and Inkscape, a vector drawing program).

A class with ten workstations (Figure 2) could save about $1,200 annually, based on Adobe’s educational pricing of $19.99 per month per license for installation on up to two computers. An added benefit is that the student can install the same free open source programs at home for homework projects, saving the student (or parents) a few hundred dollars annually.

What’s The Difference Between Freeware and Open Source Software?

As the question implies, freeware and open source software are not the same. Although each type can usually be used free of charge, the differences lie mainly in the terms of use set by the licensing agreement.

For the purpose of this book, free means that all of the software outlined in this book can be used free of charge, both for personal and commercial purposes. However, free as defined by the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative means freedom, as in the freedom to modify the source code, make copies for others, and install on multiple computers, to name a few examples. In essence, the user is free from the restrictions imposed by the license of proprietary software.

Freeware: Generally speaking, freeware is proprietary software that can be used free of charge, but modifying the source code is not permitted. The terms of use regarding freeware vary from one program to the next. Some freeware is created by individual developers and other freeware applications are created by corporations. One freeware program’s license might allow you to make and distribute free copies to friends and coworkers, but prohibit selling them. Another might only allow you to make one backup copy, and prohibit any type of distribution. It’s always advisable to read the license agreement carefully before installing and using freeware.

Some freeware programs have limited features with the option to upgrade to a more feature-rich, paid version of the program. Two examples that will be discussed in Chapter 3 are Serif PagePlus and DrawPlus Starter Editions. Although they are not the full version programs, they may be perfect for those wanting to design basic printed materials or create graphic designs.

Some freeware is web-based, so there is nothing to download because it is operated using your browser. You don’t have to worry about installation or upgrades (but you are still bound by the terms of the license).

Open Source Software: Open source software is also known as free software (not to be confused with freeware). Most of the open source software outlined in this book falls under the terms the GPL, or General Public License (it’s often prefixed with the GNU to read GNU GPL). This is the most widely used free software license. A huge advantage this offers over proprietary software is that the software can be freely copied and distributed to friends and coworkers (Figure 3).

Some software titles described in this book fall under other license types, such as the Mozilla Public License, MIT, or BSD. Since it’s beyond the scope of this book to describe in detail the differences of each license type, I suggest you go to the Open Source Initiative page at http://opensource.org/licenses.

Essentially, the GPL is a copyleft license, which means modified works must be distributed under the same license terms. For instance, when someone creates a modified version of the photo editing program GIMP, then they must make the new version available with no restrictions under the same GPL terms. This ensures that free software remains free.

For a more comprehensive explanation of how the terms under the GPL work, I suggest reading the article by Brett Smith available on the GNU Operating System website at https://gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html.

The Growing Use Open Source Software in Europe

According to reports by Abhishek Prakash, the creator of the open source advocacy website named It’s F.O.S.S (www.itsfoss.com), there’s a trend in adopting open source solutions. A growing number of city governments throughout Europe have migrated away from proprietary software and embraced free and open source alternatives. The primary reason: savings. By switching from proprietary to open source alternatives, several cities in France, Italy, and other countries have enjoyed savings of millions of Euro.

Here’s a look at several European municipalities that have benefited financially by adopting open source software and computer operating systems:

• Toulouse, France: The fourth largest city in France saved about one million Euro by replacing Microsoft Office with the open source office productivity suite LibreOffice. The migration took about 18 months, and as of July 2014 about 90% of the desktop computers (about 10,000 city employees) run LibreOffice. [1]
• Turin, Italy: This Italian city recently opted to move from Windows XP (which is no longer supported by Microsoft) to Ubuntu Linux, a free computer operating system (Linux systems are explored in greater depth in Chapter 10). This migration should result in a project savings of around 6 million Euro during a five year period. [2]
• Udine, Italy: Like Toulouse, Udine opted to migrate away from Microsoft Office. This city of 100,000 will eventually be installing OpenOffice (from which LibreOffice was born) on its 400 computers. The projected savings will be about 360,000 Euro.[3]
• Canary Islands: This Spanish autonomous territory has saved about 700,000 Euro by switching to open source software .[4]

One important point to keep in mind is that migrating from proprietary software to open source (especially on a large scale) must be done properly. It takes time to get everyone involved acclimated, and it is generally done gradually. In short, there must be a plan in place. Switching from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice on 200 workstations at once could throw the company into chaos.

The Document Foundation provides a helpful whitepaper on migrating from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice as a downloadable PDF at https://documentfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/tdf-migrationwhitepaper1.pdf.

It might not be possible to completely escape the necessity of using proprietary software on some workstations. For example, the owner of a medium-sized graphics design company might want to switch from Adobe products to open source programs. But because they exchange Adobe files with some of their clients, they must still use Adobe software. A careful analysis might determine that the company could do fine by having Adobe assigned to two, three, or four workstations, and using an open source program on the rest (Figure 4). That number, of course, would vary from one company to another. Another company might require Adobe on half the workstations, but they would still save money by using open source on the remaining half.

Supporting Open Source Software

Free and open source software (and much of the freeware developed by generous individuals) is available at no charge, but donations are a huge force in the continued development of these programs. Many of the people that are involved in the development of open source software work on a volunteer basis. I personally use open source software almost exclusively and make it a point to make fairly regular contributions to the developers.

Open source can be supported in other ways as well: becoming an advocate, giving away copies, teaching others how to use open source programs, writing about open source, etc. People talented in writing computer code can contribute by helping make their favorite programs even better (Figure 5).

Understandably, many business owners may simply be too busy running their enterprises to become deeply involved in open source advocacy. You might not have time to shout about the merits of open source from the mountain top. However, making a donation once in a while will certainly help. It only makes sense to contribute to the betterment of your favorite open source programs.

Getting Support for Open Source Software

One great thing open source has going for it is that just about every program (GIMP and Inkscape are a couple of examples) usually has a very active community. The forums are great places to find help if you have trouble using a particular program. Most of the forum members are glad to help out. It’s sometimes easier to get help for open source programs than their proprietary counterparts. Calling technical support and being on hold for long periods, paying for support that doesn’t always supply the correct solution, and other hassles are common with proprietary software.

Some open source programs offer paid technical support, particularly if the software is designed for larger enterprises. However, there are usually the same avenues of free support in place, such as user forums and downloadable documentation.

YouTube is another great learning resource. This video-posting platform now hosts just about any kind of tutorial you can imagine. More often than not, you’ll be able to find good tutorials on any given software title.

Summary

Hopefully, you are enthused about the potential savings offered by freeware and open source solutions. You’ve now learned the fundamental differences between the two. You’ve also been made aware of the growing trend of open source software in cities across Europe. Lastly, you looked at some of the ways open source can be supported, and how to get support for the open source programs you use (or might come to use).

Now, feel free to look around in this book for the software solutions you need. There are additional software titles mentioned in the Appendix of this book.

References:

1. “French City Toulouse Saved 1 Million Euro With LibreOffice”, July 31, 2014 by Abhishek Prakash.
2. “Italian City Turin Opts For Ubuntu And Open Office To Save Millions”, September 17, 2014 by Abhishek Prakash.
3. “Another Italian City Says Goodbye To Microsoft Office, Will Switch To OpenOffice Soon”, September 17, 2014 by  Abhishek Prakash.
4. “Canary Islands Saves 700,000 Euro With Open Source”, March 4, 2014 by Abhishek Prakash.