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CostEffective IT: The Compiere Difference
Cost-Effective
IT: Open Source Compiere,
by
Richard Sonnier
Houston
Business Show "Advisor" Richard Sonnier, of the Information
Technology Services firm Nimble Services, Inc., provides weekly
information on our show about business technology issues. He can be
reached at 281-445-4800 x250 or rsonnier@nimbleservices.com.
This week I will finish my discussion of Compiere, a free and complete
business
application.
Free Software
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has been promoting the idea of free
software for many years. When we speak of free software, we do not
necessarily mean zero cost software. Most importantly, free software is
free of the control of the software creator or vendor. The FSF defines
this freedom as follows:
``Free software'' is a matter of
liberty, not price. To understand the
concept, you should think of ``free'' as in ``free speech,'' not as in
``free beer.'' See the FSF website for
details.
Think of software more like a book where the author of the book is
protected by copyright but where readers are encouraged to use the
knowledge in the book in a free and open way.
Open Source
All software is created as source code in some computer language
and then compiled into the machine language of the computer.
Without the source code, it is extremely difficult to modify a program
to meet your needs. Therefore, one important requirement of
free software is that its source code be open or freely available.
Closed Business Software
Most business software from Microsoft Office to Peachtree Accounting is
closed source; that is the customer has no rights to the source code.
Therefore, you cannot make changes to the software to fit your needs.
Most seriously, if the software vendor quits supporting this software
that is so important to your business, then you are forced to make an
expensive migration to another software platform. Every year we see
companies forced into very bad situations by their vendors.
Compiere is Open Source
Since Compiere is open source, you are safe from costly future
migrations. Even better, Compiere is written in Java. The Java
programming language is extremely portable and runs on most computer
systems. This is Compiere's "secret weapon" against its
well-established competitors in the business software marketplace. With
the source code, you can modify Compiere to meet your busines needs
easily and cheaply; and the vendor can never force you into an
expensive migration. With Compiere, you are in control of your
business, not your software vendor.
Recommendation
Consider open source solutions for your business.
Next week I will discuss the latest cell phone technologies.
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