Should Open Source start doing more advertising?

More and more people are discovering the quality of Open Source software.

• Microsoft Exchange faces competition from Zarafa, Zimbra and OpenXchange
• Microsoft Sharepoint has to contend with several powerful CMS systems and Wiki systems such as TYPO3, Joomla!, MediaWiki
• Microsoft Dynamics has strong competition from the open source CRM systems SugarCRM and vtiger CRM.
• Microsoft's ERP systems, Microsoft Dynamics/NA (formerly Navision) and Microsoft Dynamics/AX (formerly Axapta) and have competition from several Open Source ERP systems such as OpenBravo, SQL Ledger and Ledger SMB.

As an alternative to Microsoft Office there is the free Open Office and even for Microsoft Project there are packages such as dotProject, Achievo and Open Workbench.

Fooled by marketing and sales

In fact, Microsoft's considerable marketing efforts have caused many people to hesitate to make the switch. Open Source software is new to many, so it takes some getting used to. It is indeed a strange thought that you can download and install similar software for free and that it also appears to work just fine.

Professional support even cheaper

The fees for supporting Microsoft products are often 20-30% higher than supporting Open Source products. In addition, there are no license fees and no mandatory 20% 'service fees' per year. Furthermore, many users find it very unpleasant that one small change costs so much or cannot be implemented at all. Open Source software has the advantage that any service provider who masters the programming language can perform maintenance. So no more vendor lock-in.

Chicken or egg? Should Open Source start doing more advertising?

So the price/quality ratio of Open Source software is quite good. Only many do not know that. Should Open Source service providers now raise their rates to run expensive marketing campaigns to make you all aware that you can save a lot of money?

Already many successful implementations

Vicus has been working since 2003 to convince anyone who will listen of the benefits of Open Source software. Fortunately, many have picked up the message, as evidenced by our many customers , including companies such as Albert Heijn, Toerkoop, NYSE/Euronext and many smaller organizations. Would you like more information or explore what Open Source can do for you? Please contact us for an informal meeting at our office.