Author Release Guide on Top 100 Business Software Packages
This spring computer consultant Tim Jowers quit his job to investigate the promises of Open Source. The result of his six month study is one more Open Source advocate and a book summarizing the top 100 Business Open Source Software packages. The book is available for free on the web at http://www.serviza.com/bizbook or may be purchased in print from LuLu.com at http://www.lulu.com/content/417397.
Cary, NC (PRWEB) October 31, 2006 -- This spring computer consultant Tim Jowers quit his job to investigate the promises of Open Source. The result of his six month study is one more Open Source advocate and a book summarizing the top 100 Business Open Source Software packages. The book is available for free on the web at http://www.serviza.com/bizbook or may be purchased in print from LuLu.com at http://www.lulu.com/content/417397.
Having literally thousands of software packages to choose from is overwhelming to anybody. But it’s exciting. For example, Fedora Core 6 released October 24th by Red Hat, Inc. includes over 1300 software packages in the base install and approaches 5000 when fully loaded with extras. Sourceforge.net lists over 133,000 projects. That's a lot of free and open software.
Software perfect for a particular need can be chosen rather than one-size-fits-all software. Competing products can even be run side-by-side due to the low or zero acquisition cost. Some Open Source Software is tailored to specific industries. For instance, over 1 million patients are served using the Open Source medical package ClearHealth. Under the Freedom of Information Act even the VA Hospital system Vista/MUMPS which serves 4.1 million patients is being released as an Open Source package called World Vista. Jowers' book, “The Business Guide to Free Information Technology including Free/Libre Open Source Software”, has a long title but makes short work of the almost innumerable Open Source packages by picking the top 100. Thanks to the print-on-demand publisher LuLu.com, the book itself was published using only Open Source software such as Linux, OpenOffice, Gimp, and ps2pdf.
“The Business Guide” addresses the perennial question of “Is the software truly free?” It's short answer is, “Yes”. After studying what's out there for six months, Jowers thinks he had an epiphany, “The entire way software is acquired and used is changing”. Linux is estimated to have 15% of the server computer market while 60-70% of Internet websites run on Apache; but he claims the real wave of Open Source has just begun. For example, he claims in his book “A million dollar computer can be yours today” and goes on to justify his claim by listing one hundred business software packages which may be downloaded for free. Of course downloading the software is only part of the battle but, as we all know, battling with software is never-ending whether one chooses open or proprietary software. He claims open software is more easily supported and customized simply because so many others are migrating to it. When asked what he thinks about Microsoft's claim 200 million people will use Windows Vista in the next two years, he retorts that one can run a business on a fully loaded Linux platform while purchasing a PC operating system simply is the first step in opening the purse strings. “20 software purchases and $6000 later one is still at 5% of the capabilities of a solid Open Source offering.” The book costs $19.97 at LuLu.com: http://www.lulu.com/content/417397.
Tim Jowers resides in Cary, NC with his wife. He is available for comment at 803-740-9820.
# # #
Post Comment:
Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/Q291cC1FbXB0LVNpbmctQ291cC1NYWduLVplcm8=
Bookmark -
Del.icio.us |
Furl It |
Technorati |
Ask |
MyWeb |
Propeller |
Live Bookmarks |
Newsvine |
TailRank |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
Digg |
Stumbleupon |
Google Bookmarks |
Sphere |
Blink It |
Spurl
|
