Research questions: Linux for small business?

[Rachmat Ardiyanto]

Hello everyone

I am a student from the University of New south Wales, Australia. I am currently writing a research paper about Linux adoption for small business, so i am very interested in the community experience and feeling about this subject

These are many technical factors cited by computer expert regarding Linux adoption, but then again to understand deeply about factors that influence small business owner decision to choose linux, we need to know directly from them. What consideration they make when making this choice, what strategic business plan that make them choose windows, why this particular business situation force them to choose linux, et cetera.

I will post questions to start the discussion in this subject and then gather all reply as my data for further analysis. Your answer, thoughts, opinion, or comment is highly appreciated.


These questions should've been directed to people who currently managing a business, or had business experience in the past, or in the planning stage to start a new one. But im also curious to look the answer from developer and user perspective. So feel free to answer any of the following questions

• What do you think in general about Linux operating system for small business?

• Will you choose Linux operating system for your business computing needs? Please describe your reasons.

• If you do not like the current state of Linux, what change you want to see that might encourage small business to use it?

• If you had experience in deploying Linux for your business, please share it in this thread. What are the difficulties you encountered? How do you solve it?

•The difference in cost gives linux a major advantage over windows for people who want to start and manage a small business. As a person who dont have any experience in business, i can only see that linux is cheap. But, does it really work as expected? does the price tag really worth the functionality? for example, when you plan to start a cafe business.your goin to need a computer for your inventory record, billing, printing, correspondency etc. Now you think you may only need one computer...then you have to choose...windows or linux? what factors you think a businessperson will see to make the decision here? cost? ease of use? technical support? reliability? interoperability?





NB: i know that this kind of research already been done many times in the past, but with current progress of Linux development..im sure many things have changed. So consider this as a "refreshment study" to look for new ideas and perspective in linux community



Really hoping for a feedback from you all,

[Freston]

What do you think in general about Linux operating system for small business?

Any OS that gets the job done is a good OS.

Will you choose Linux operating system for your business computing needs? Please describe your reasons.

Yes I have. I run a very small business (it's just me), and I am completely dependent on Gnu/Linux for this.
I choose Gnu/Linux because it gave me opportunity to develop a system to suit my specific needs. I have a rather clear view of what I want and how I want it. Gnu/Linux does that for me.
But I started with Gnu/Linux for philosophical reasons. The community seemed very nice and cooperative. And it introduced choice. being able to choose is important.

If you do not like the current state of Linux, what change you want to see that might encourage small business to use it?

Hmmmm... This is a question of conscience. Better wireless support would be a good thing. But that's not a Gnu/Linux related problem, it's the propriatory drivers. The same goes for some other closed source formats. My taxes for example, I have to do them electronically and the tax service gives out the mandatory program. They have a tarball variant, so there seems little problem. But the program is clearly beta and causes all kinds of problems.
On the other hand, every client of mine who sees me working very big spreadsheets, without the well known display problems some other spreadsheet programs have, gets interested in what kind of software I'm running.

If you had experience in deploying Linux for your business, please share it in this thread. What are the difficulties you encountered? How do you solve it?

The main difficulty I encountered, apart from wireless, was choosing the right software. Every program is different, and works differently. No matter how easy the interface might seem at first glance, the really powerful features of a program are something you'll need to learn. Wether you're mass mailing draws data from a spreadsheet to be formated in a graph, or you want a 500x70 matrix to produce coherent human readable output.... You will need to learn how to do that differently for any program you use.

You of course will be able to get well known office programs to work under Gnu/Linux, which will certainly make life easier for some of us. But on the other hand, if you, like me, have use for different features you'll end up installing quite a few programs before settling for a couple that do what you want.

The difference in cost gives linux a major advantage over windows for people who want to start and manage a small business.

That might not hold true. In the long run I don't think Gnu/Linux is cheaper than any other OS. Not more expensive either. Man hours can be expressed in terms of hard cash, and businessmen do. But if you view tuning a system as an investment, you can get some quite promising results.

As a person who dont have any experience in business, i can only see that linux is cheap. But, does it really work as expected? does the price tag really worth the functionality?

Do you have experience with Gnu/Linux? No, it doesn't really work as expected if you have no prior experience with it. The OS has some tricks up it's sleeve, some functionality you never knew possible and it holds the power to change things you always thought where unchangeable. Do you need this level of functionality? Well, some do, some don't. Not all are busy getting the most out of their system, they just want the job done.

for example, when you plan to start a cafe business.your goin to need a computer for your inventory record, billing, printing, correspondency etc. Now you think you may only need one computer...then you have to choose...windows or linux? what factors you think a businessperson will see to make the decision here? cost? ease of use? technical support? reliability? interoperability?

Or an Apple. That's the computer I'd give my mother

[Rachmat Ardiyanto]

Hi Freston, Thanks for your respond. You've givin me a great deal of information. If you dont mind, i'd like to explore your answer a bit more to understand your perspective

Yes I have. I run a very small business (it's just me), and I am completely dependent on Gnu/Linux for this.
I choose Gnu/Linux because it gave me opportunity to develop a system to suit my specific needs. I have a rather clear view of what I want and how I want it. Gnu/Linux does that for me.

may i know what business you do, is it related to IT industry? and what are those business needs, why Linux is good for those?

But I started with Gnu/Linux for philosophical reasons. The community seemed very nice and cooperative. And it introduced choice. being able to choose is important.

This is a very interesting factor, what do you mean by choice here? is it the different choice of linux distribution?

I understand that linux is based on community support, but some people also think that this is one of main disadvantage of linux. In the case of Windows, when a company have problem with it, they know who to blame. but for linux...they dont know who is in charge of Linux...i mean you couldnt ask linux community for this responsibility right? what do you think about this?

That might not hold true. In the long run I don't think Gnu/Linux is cheaper than any other OS. Not more expensive either. Man hours can be expressed in terms of hard cash, and businessmen do. But if you view tuning a system as an investment, you can get some quite promising results.

I...honestly dont really understand what do you mean here...how can you say in the long run Linux wont be cheaper with other OS?? i thought those TCO studies was created by Microsoft to spread FUD
but seriously, im curious...can you elaborate more? and also about tuning a system as an investments??

[Freston]

Hi Freston, Thanks for your respond.

Sure! It seemed like an interesting study.

may i know what business you do, is it related to IT industry? and what are those business needs, why Linux is good for those?

Hm... I do 'projects'. Basically I work in a small nice in the health care industry. Jokingly I say sometimes that mid-level government pays me to disagree with low-level government. But I do some research and then implement the findings of my own research. And when that's done, I move on. I have about four to five projects at any one time, all independent of each other. And all very very different.

This is a very interesting factor, what do you mean by choice here? is it the different choice of linux distribution?

Ah, the impact of choosing a distribution is often overrated IMHO. Deep down inside every distro has the same core. Of course there are differences, but at the end of the day the programs have made the biggest difference. And there are a lot of different programs out there.

I understand that linux is based on community support, but some people also think that this is one of main disadvantage of linux. In the case of Windows, when a company have problem with it, they know who to blame. but for linux...they dont know who is in charge of Linux...i mean you couldnt ask linux community for this responsibility right? what do you think about this?

When you're running into a problem in Windows, you can blame Microsoft. And then? Nothing. All you did was curse to your computer during reboot but everything stayed the same.
On Gnu/Linux, you don't have that 'luxury'. You have the choice to (help) overcome the problem, or sit back and live with it. When you own the house you live in, you don't get to curse the landlord for the leaking roof. Is that a disadvantage?

I...honestly dont really understand what do you mean here...how can you say in the long run Linux wont be cheaper with other OS??

Well, it's small businesses we're talking about. And although it's possible to buy a Gnu/Linux OS pre-installed on a computer, I suspect the vast majority still home brews their system. I know I did. Installing Slackware was about 20 minutes work. But getting my Slackbox to behave the way I want it was an afternoon well spend. And that's due to my prior experience with Gnu/Linux. Otherwise it would have been longer.

Still, to contrast this. The time my system saves me by doing what I want and how I want it makes this a profitable investment
And.... not unimportant, it cuts back on the irritation factor. (This actually may be the main reason to work with Gnu/Linux)

i thought those TCO studies was created by Microsoft to spread FUD

Heheh, yeah... Ever since we don't get eaten by bears anymore, we are looking for new things to fear.