Open Source on the business desktop -- a real world analysis

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Adam Wiggins (Jan. 24, 2002)

This is yet another in the recent stream of "Linux on the Desktop -- can it work?" style articles. The difference with this one is it's not just speculation: it's the account of a company's recent shift to open source on the desktop -- which has been a resounding success. Today, TrustCommerce employees run almost exclusively open source software on their desktops.

Open Source on the business desktop -- a real world analysis
by Adam Wiggins

Part 1: Introduction

Fifteen years ago, the term "paperless office" was bandied about in the business world. A new enabling technology (computers) would allow businesses to rid themselves of an older, less functional technology (paper) which had become more trouble than it was worth. Today, the vast majority of document exchange is electronic; the paperless office has (more or less) been achieved.

These days, we now hear the term "Microsoft-free office" spoken in much the same tone of voice. A new enabling technology (Open Source/Free Software) will allow businesses to rid themselves of an older, less functional technology (proprietary software) which has become more trouble than it is worth.

Numerous articles have appeared in the media and online on the subject, but the vast majority seem to be speculation: a lone writer or SOHO worker who declares that such a thing is probably possible, in theory. (Obviously some examples such as the City of Largo are an exception.) They then go on to list the various Open Source/Free Software desktop apps available, and leave the reader wondering if one can really do business with entirely Free/Open Source software. (With apologies to GNU and RMS, I am going to use the term "open source" to mean Open Source and Free Software collectively for the rest of this essay.)

My employer, TrustCommerce, has been making a slow transition to open source desktops over the past year. Today we have removed almost all proprietary software from the company desktops, and we're doing business just as well (and arguably better) than before. Surprisingly, the majority of our customers are not members of the open source community (though a good portion of them are). In fact, most of our customers have no idea what the the terms "Open Source" or "proprietary" mean, and would think we were crazy if we took Richard Stallman's suggestion and rejected the many .doc and .xls files that are sent to us each day.

This remainder of essay is in two major sections: the story itself, to share the ups and downs of this transition; and the specific applications and technologies that we have evaluated for doing business in a Microsoft-dominated world.

--- Continued ---

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