Open source software is computer software that has been designed by a community of developers and is available free for anyone to install and use. Open Source software offers better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost and an end to vendor lock-in.
How can open source software help me?
Open source software can provide me with a completely free operating system, compatible office suite and a host of free software programs that I can install legally on as many computers as I would like to.
The Linux/Debian/Solaris Operating System
Linux and Debian etc. are free operating systems that provides you with a very stable and feature rich operating system being either a desktop or a server. Common examples which you may have heard include Ubuntu, Suse, Red Hat, Centos, Fedora core and many more. They can do everything, if not more than your current operating system so you can browse the Internet, download your photos and edit them, retrieve email and open and create Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. The advantage is the operating system is free, compatible with your PC hardware, very stable (no more shutting down every day) and fast. Below are a couple of screenshots of Ubuntu 9.10.
OpenOffice – Microsoft Office Replacement
OpenOffice is a freely available but fully featured office suite that can run on most operating systems and can be installed freely on any PC. Open Office is compatible with Microsoft Office and can open and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents and save them as Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents as well as provide a drawing, maths and database utility program. Instead of purchasing an expensive Office Suite why not try Open Office first? You can read more about Open Office here. Below are some screen shots of Open Office programs.
Other Free Open Source Software
- Firefox and Google Chrome: Free Internet Browser.
- Thunderbird: Free email program.
- Gimp: Very powerful picture and graphics editor.
- Pidgin: Free social network instant messenger.
- GnuCash: Accouting and financial application.
- MySQL: High performance and easy to use database.
- GParted: Hard disk partition editor
Below is a cost comparison between Microsoft Windows and Office compared to Open Source. Approximating a Microsoft Windows licence at R2000 and a Microsoft Office 2007 Professional licence at R4000. Support for both Microsoft and Windows approximated at R350 p/h for both operating systems. As you can see below Linux is by far the cheaper option as it is free, yet it is a proven, stable and reliable desktop and server operating system.
| Software | 5 PCs | 10 PCs | 20 PCs | Support p/h |
| MS Windows 7 | R10,000 | R20,000 | R50,000 | R350 |
| MS Office | R20,000 | R40,000 | R80,000 | R350 |
| Linux (Ubuntu) | R0 | R0 | R0 | R350 |
| Open Office (Linux capable) | R0 | R0 | R0 | R350 |
| Total Saving: | R30,000 | R60,000 | R130,000 | R0 |
Are you looking for Linux or Open Office or a suite of applications? We have a number of Linux and Open Source software and applications available and we can burn it onto disk and post to you anywhere in South Africa.
We also compile disks of any software you may require. If you need a disk with certain applications we will get them (if we do not have them already) and burn them onto disk for you and mail it to you.
For example here are some of the applications and operating systems we have available:
- Linux
- openSuse 11.2
- Ubuntu 9.10
- Ubuntu Multimedia Studio
- Fedora Core 12
- Knoppix
- Applications
- Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird
- Google Chrome, Opera, Safari
- Skype and MSN
- Open Office
- Dia Diagrams
- DVD tools
- Audio recorders
- Google Earth, Chrome, Desktop etc.
- And many more…….
The cost is R120 including the disk and postage. If we don’t have it we will get it for you! Just let us know which one or ones you would like, the architecture (32 bit or 64 bit) and we will do the rest for you and the disk will be delivered to you.
For more information please contact us.
