Archive for December, 2008
Linux For Business?
Friday, December 12th, 2008As the economy goes south I know many businesses are trying to find ways to cut overhead costs. And one major expense for most small businesses now-a-days is computer software — especially now that there’s a “standard” for most document types, and that standard is often only produced (in the Windows world) by one manufacturer.
I’ve been a linux user for eleven years now. And in that eleven years linux has come a long way. Today there are linux support experts in almost every community that will, for a small fee, get a linux based system up and running. If you’re a little more adventurous (and knowledgeable) you can try installing the distribution yourself. It’s still not quite as easy as Windows, but almost. If your business is networked, you’ll definitely want to consider hiring someone to set things up for you. It’s not hard, but linux does things very differently than windows, and that can take some getting used to.
One major difference between Windows and linux is choice. For your Windows style interface there are two major choices, for instance: Gnome and KDE. And even within those two choices for “desktop environments” there are choices in how the desktop looks and feels and functions. Which is better, Gnome or KDE? Both have rabbidly loyal followings; it’s largly a matter of personal choice.
Each distribution also comes with an enormous amount of software — thousands of dollars worth, if you were to have to buy it for Windows.
When it comes to running your business, you’ll need something that not only replaces the Microsoft Office suite, but that can also import all those “word” documents and “Excel” spreadsheets:
In your menus you’ll probably find “office”, with a selection of choices: “Word processor” and “spread sheet” and “presentation” and so on. Welcome to the Open Office suite, the linux user’s MS Office replacement. (Actually, even if you’re still a Windows or Mac user you can replace MS Office with Open Office.) Open Office can import your Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint files. And it can export back to those formats as well — though because Open Office offers functionality that MS Office doesn’t, you’ll want to be careful how you create your new documents (spreadsheets especially) to make sure they’ll be at least reasonably compatible with MS Office.
If you think MS Office is the bees-knees, you’ll probably also love Open Office. My dad threw over MS Office for the Open Office suite; he thinks its easier to use. Personally, I hate Open Office. I use it because I have to, not because I like it — and when I don’t have to, I avoid it like the plague. It’s not really the fault of the software or the developers, I just find the MS Office style of software, with its endless streams of menus within menus a pain in the neck.
If it’s not installed on your new linux system by the distribution, another piece of software you’ll want is Novell Evolution, the linux answer to MS Exchange. It will integrate your email, calendar, tasks, and contact management much like Exchange did. It can also be synced with your Palm or Blackberry address book, calendar, tasks, notes, and so on.
If you’re in the building trades you’ll probably want some kind of drafting software. There are many different options out there for the linux user — most of them bad. For simple drafting, one good option is Qcad. It’s included in some distributions and is stable. It also has the advantage of using a generic version of the DXF file format to store your data, so your files can be imported into AutoCad — sort of. Unfortunately AutoCad is very proprietary about its file formats, so complete compatibility of any third party software with any given version of AutoCad is questionable.
If you’re an architect, designer or engineer, my personal choice is Cycas. It’s a full 3D design and visualization modeling cad package that imports and exports in many different formats. It’s been around awhile and has become the choice of many architects and engineers and choose not to spend a fortune on AutoCad.
If you need a CRM management system, take a look at Concursive. There are many other options out there of varying quality. Most of them are commercial and no cheaper than the Windows software you’re trying to eliminate. Concursive isn’t free either if you need more than “four chairs”. But for a small office, you can use their fully functional platform without charge.
The other main piece of office software you’ll need — unless you pay a bookkeepr — is bookkeeping. And here, unfortunately, linux still does fall way short. If you need a full ERP package you can look at Compiere or one of its free spin-offs, OpenBravo or ADempiere. I played with these programs for over two months. I found them very hard to use, poorly thought out, and time consuming. Your office phone bill, for instance, is considered “inventory” (as is your mortgage, your utility bill, and virtually everything else!). So to pay it, it first has to go through the requisition process and the receiving process before it can go through the payables process and actually be paid. My accounting teacher would go nuts!
Another program by a different developer (in England, I think), but one that has a similar look and feel, is webERP. I played with this program some, but once I noticed that its approach to data entry was very similar to that of the Compiere family of programs, I stopped there.
Another major failing of these programs, in my opinion, anyway, is their lack of banking support. None import or export to the QIF or OFX file formats; and none offer HBCI banking support. So here in the web linked 21st century your bookkeeper will still be doing bank transactions and reconciliation the way we did in the 1930s: By hand!
There is one Quick Books style program available for the linux user. I use it myself. And it does use the QIF and OFX (QFX for you Quick Books users) import, and it also has HBCI support. It’s called GnuCash, and unless you need serious inventory or payroll support, it’s a nice little program.
GnuCash was originally written for personal finance, and still has more features developed for that function than for business. It will automatically adjust your balances for changes in your stock portfolio, for instance. But it has no support for payroll or depreciation, or inventory tracking at all. Nor does it having a “closing” function to account for deferred and accrued income and expenses at the close of the accounting period. All these things must be handled “manually” outside the system, and inserted (and then sometimes removed after report generation) in summary.
Another limitation is its choice of data storage formats. GnuCash stores its data in an XML formatted flat file. Multiple users acess on a single set of books is, therefore, not possible. Work on moving PostgreSQL and MySQL for storage has been stop and start for several years.
Two attempts have been made to find funding for the GnuCash project so it could be expanded out into a full blown GNU Licensed competitor to Intuit’s Quicken and Quick Books programs. But both attempts failed, leaving project development in the hands of a dedicated team of volunteers.
Finally, for those who don’t want to, or who can’t leave some of their Windows software behind (like Quick Books), there is a solution. It’s called Crossover Office by Codeweavers. Crossover Office is neither free nor perfect. It is based on free software called “Wine”, which you’re welcome to try. I found configuration of Wine to be so arcane I couldn’t make it work, so paying Codeweavers for their work in humanizing it made good sense to me.
I say Crossover Office isn’t perfect because it focuses Wine’s Windows interoperability on only supported, (i.e. critical and/or popular) software. Other software may or may not work, but Codeweavers only guarantees that certain implementations of certain software will run. That said, the list of supported software is impressive, and is growing all the time. You can see the full list here.
So if you’re thinking about switching and saving your company money, don’t be shy! I can’t honestly say linux is yet on a par with Windows in its ease of installation and maintenance, but it’s certainly close. And for daily use, it’s every bit as easy. And in my opinion, with the exception of accounting, I’ve found the quality of software far superior to that of most Windows applications.
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