Going Open for SMB?

If you’re like most small business IT folks, keeping a lid on expenses is a key part of your job. There’s no question that many commercial applications are very capable, but they frequently carry non-trivial pricetags, so alternatives are always worth at least a passing glance.

Over the course of the next few weeks I’m going to be looking at a number of no-cost or low-cost options for getting many common tasks accomplished, though you shouldn’t worry — I’m not going to ignore commercial products for small businesses.

To get things started, I’ve been taking a look at OpenOffice.org 2.3, the latest open-source office productivity suite from the OpenOffice project. I last looked at OpenOffice several versions ago, when my conclusion was that this was a hair-shirt sort of office productivity suite, acceptable if you simply had no money, but no challenge for commercial products like Microsoft Office. My first question as I launched into the new version was whether the software had moved up into the genuinely usable category. The answer, I found, is yes.

OpenOffice 2.3 doesn’t have the breadth of applications to compete with the full-bore Microsoft Office suite. It does have a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, database, drawing application, and formula editor. Most people will care deeply about three of these — word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation graphics. In these three applications, OpenOffice 2.3 provides a solution that could easily work as the sole option for a business. The interface is very much “old school”: while OpenOffice works perfectly well with Vista, it doesn’t embrace the new Vista-style user interface, and doesn’t try to mimic Microsoft Office 2007. If you think that the your employees are likely to have had experience with an earlier version of Office (OK, you could substitute, “If they drew living breath in the last 20 years for that last part…), then OpenOffice 2.3 could be a much easier transition for them than Office 2007.

OpenOffice.org 2.3 doesn’t have the deep integration between applications that you see in Office 2007, and there aren’t nearly as many business process applications that hook into its user interface. If you’re looking for a way to get documents prepared, run what-if scenarios, and create sales presentations to show in a customer’s office, then OpenOffice.org 2.3 is a very realistic option.

Are you using OpenOffice.org software for your small business? If you are, let me know. I think that, with a little work, an entirely acceptable suite of software could be put together for an average small business using nothing but free or open-source software. I’ll use your suggestions as we build the list of options — it’s going to be a good project.