Open Source questions and answers:
Q: What is Open Source?
A: Open Source (GNU / GPL) software is usually free for most users and organizations.
Q: What kind of applications are available?
A: Here are just a few of the more popular Open Source applications:
Open Office A free Open Document and Microsoft compatible office suite featuring professional grade word processing, spreadsheet, database, graphic and presentation applications. You can also output PDF files.
Mozilla Firefox: A full featured and customizable Open Source web browser that is more secure than Internet Explorer.
Thunder Bird: An excelent alternitive to Outlook and Outlook Express.
Q: What is Linux?
A: Linux is an Open Source, Unix based Operating System, suitable for servers, workstations and stand-alone computers.
Q: Is it hard to use?
A: No. Most modern Linux distributions come with a variety of Graphical User Interfaces and can be made to look and work like your current Windows installations. In fact, most look and work BETTER than your current Windows installations.
Q: Are Open Source products any good?
A: Absolutely! Mature Open Source operating systems and applications are usually very stable and secure. Because they are often created by groups of dedicated professionals, bugs tend to get resolved significantly more quickly than most proprietary software corporations.
Q: Is it legal for you to use at work?
A: It depends on the licensing of each application. The commonly used Open Source Licensing agreement is the GNU general Public License.
GPL: The "GNU General Public licence" The application may be used in commercial and non-commercial environments.
Q: Can I use this software on my current servers and workstations?
A: Yes! Many Open Source applications run on Windows, Linux and Unix platforms.
NOTE: Properly configured Linux servers and workstations are inherently more stable and secure than their Windows based counterparts.
Q: Are these applications hard to use?
A: Not usually. Most come with excellent documentation and have very intuitive interfaces. There is also usually decent on-line support.
Q: Are Linux and Open Source products compatible with our current Windows based network?
A: In most cases, yes.
Q: How else will Linux and Open Source products save me money?
A: Once properly set up with the right products, you'll see significant savings in service and repair fees, software fees, subscription fees and licensing fees.
Q: So, are Open Source products right for my business?
A: Unless you are forced by the nature of your business to use proprietary or specialty software products that have no Open Source counterparts the answer is probably yes.
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