The definitive guide to choosing your business management software - CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5 - IS FREE SOFTWARE BETTER?

SUMMARY:

A few years ago, free software was something truly alternative, but little by little it has been gaining market share because of the great features it offers. The ERP and business management software segment is no exception. In this chapter, we try to list the main advantages and disadvantages of choosing open source.

KEY IDEAS:

• Free software is not necessarily better. There are good and bad proprietary programs, and good and bad open-source programs.
• Very often, people choose a popular program so that nobody in the company will criticize their decision, even when more interesting alternatives exist.
• Free software is free of charge, flexible, and transparent. But it is also different, a minority choice, and open to modification by anyone.

IS FREE SOFTWARE BETTER? It is difficult to say. Being free or proprietary does not necessarily make software better or worse. In other words, there are very good proprietary programs and very bad ones. The same is exactly true of open-source software. The point is that free software tends to start at a certain disadvantage, especially in the ERP field (ERP is an initialism, so it is not pluralized).

Proprietary ERPs made by major vendors come with more marketing and greater renown. This makes it much easier to find someone in the industry who already has a proprietary tool than someone using free software. Does that make the tool better? No. Sometimes it can give the user, and especially the person directly responsible for the purchase, greater peace of mind. Our experience shows that, very often, people who settle on a SAP or Microsoft product do so not out of conviction, but to minimize risks. In other words, they do it because they know that, internally, no one will criticize the decision to acquire a tool already used by thousands of companies around the world, even if it may be more expensive and larger than they actually need.

At this point, perhaps what we should do is list the main advantages and disadvantages of free software:

Advantages

• It is usually free of charge. You do not have to feel like a criminal when copying it or ask anyone for a favor to get license codes.
• It is flexible. You almost never have to keep more software than you need, and it will not fall short either. It can grow at the pace of your business.
• It is transparent. No one can deceive you. Any IT professional can see how it is programmed and make the changes you request.

Disadvantages

• It is different. Choosing free software may involve migrating databases and other elements to this type of technology.
• It is a minority choice. Although it is gaining more supporters every day, there is still reluctance to choose a non-mainstream technology, especially in the ERP field.
• It is accessible. Anyone can try to modify an open-source program because they can access it freely, with the risks that entails.

Having said all that, we arrive at ADVICE NUMBER 3: when doing your research, never dismiss free-software solutions. Analyze and assess them without prejudice and with your company’s benefit in mind. Then make the decision that seems most appropriate to you.

PREVIOUS CHAPTERS

• CHAPTER 4: Include products developed with free software in your research. They will broaden your perspective and offer advantages that may interest you.
• CHAPTER 3: Where should you start looking for an ERP? The main mistake is limiting the initial search too much.
• CHAPTER 2: We explain when the right time is to select an ERP, how long it will take you to choose one, and how long it will take to launch it.
• CHAPTER 1: Choosing a business management program is always a headache. This guide is the aspirin that will help you face it.