As part of the process of morphing ourselves from a closed to an open source framework development shop we've adopted a lot of OSS tools, which we are happy to advise on, and prefer to use these wherever possible.

This is not to say that we will not used closed source software on principle. We are a business after all and where the cost of ownership of a closed source offering is significantly less than its open source equivalent, and we need that functionality, then we'll use that until something better comes along.

At the end of the day both closed and OSS products have to be implemented, supported and maintained. If you don't have the requisite skills to undertake this in-house, you'll be looking at on-going costs for like for like solutions and this will determine your buying decision.

The important thing here is that we are nearly always talking about providing business software solutions via a web browser. This is where the future of IT resides. As such, as long as the application conforms to internet standards for web browsing (and it works!) then it's going to be an option. OSS is a big player in this domain.

OSS is also used extensively in the development of subscription services, where you pay for a software service on a monthly basis. This is one way for companies developing OSS to realise a return on their investment, by wrapping up useful pieces of functionality and making them available to end users with no or little technical know-how. These subscription services are attractive to use because they are generally low cost, simple to use and have a low commitment threshold.

These services are increasingly being 'mashed up', by technology companies such as ourselves, to provide ever increasingly complex bespoke solutions for clients. In fact it would be difficult to justify writing much from scratch these days when we can interface a core application to any number of subscription services to provide dynamic and affordable software solutions.

In terms of guides in OSS for the uninitiated then the following URL is a useful resource to start exploring how you might save money and assist OSS projects. It allows you to select your interest group and delve at your own pace.

OSS Watch