An introduction to Free Open Source Software, a review of the hundreds of FOSS products you get with a standard web hosting package, and some practical ideas for cost reduction and new business development using FOSS systems. Presented for the Maroondah Business Association on 7 May 2014.
1. Run your business on FOSS
Russell Searle
Principal Consultant, Psicom
Melbourne Joomla! User Group
27 March 2013
Maroondah Business Association
7 May 2014
2. FOSS applications
• FOSS = Free Open Source Software
• A free open source business app:
• Publicly offers at least one free edition or version
• Publicly offers full source code for at least the free
edition
• Is licensed under an Open Source Initiative license
• Established, reliable, powerful solutions
• Well supported by very large global developer
and user communities
3. Free?
• Free as in beer
• Gratis [Lat] = free of charge, zero price
• Many FOSS apps are free of charge, but not all
• Free as in speech
• Libre [Lat] = liberty, few or no restrictions on use
• Open Source licencing guarantees open access to source
• Open access to source = you control it, change whatever you want
• Free ≠ cheap and nasty
• FOSS apps compete with proprietary licenced apps
• FOSS apps have largest market share in many segments
• Proprietary apps often use FOSS code and components
4. Web hosting package
• Web administrator control panel
• cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, Ajenti etc.
• LAMP
• Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP / Perl / Python
• LAMP apps are FOSS by default
• Groups of tools:
• Email management
• File management
• Domain management
• Security control
• Administration
• Package installers
5. Web hosting package installers
• Commonly provided with most web hosting plans:
• Fantastico
• Softaculous
• Installatron
• Run from web hosting control panel (cPanel etc)
• Package installers provide:
• Rapid install, uninstall and version updates
• Demos
• Descriptions and links to product home site
• Ratings and reviews
6. Softaculous applications
• Blogs
• Micro blogs
• Portals/CMS
• E-Commerce
• ERP
• Education
• Forums
• Image galleries
• Wikis
• Social networks
• Ad management
• Calendars
• Games
• Mail
• Polls/surveys
• Project management
• Guest books
• Customer service
• Music
• Video
• RSS
• File managers
• Other
• Frameworks
8. A few examples
• Content Management Systems (CMS)
• WordPress powers 22% of all web domains (by some counts)
• Joomla! runs 3.1% of all sites, Drupal runs 1.9% of all sites
• e-Commerce / Shopping carts
• Magento, VirtueMart, OpenCart, many others
• Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM)
• SaaS (subscription model) and proprietary vendors dominate
• Worthy FOSS contenders: Sugar, CiviCRM, X2CRM, Zurmo, vTiger
• Business systems (ERP)
• Proprietary vendors dominate by inertia and default
• Many worthy FOSS contenders: OpenERP, OFBiz, WebERP,
FrontAccounting, allocPSA etc
9. Real online FOSS businesses
• Blogs / e-books / vlogs / podcasts
• Direct and/or indirect income
• e-Commerce / online shops
• Directories
• Social media / communities / membership
• Auctions / trading
• Job boards
• News / media / digital distribution / internet radio
• e-learning
• Gaming / hobbies
• Specialty publishing / art galleries