Userland
- Instructions to install OnlyOFFICE, one of your editor’s favorite FOSS solutions, are available in this article from ZDNet. OnlyOFFICE provides an on-premises system offering standard applications such as mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, notes, word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, and more. One of its major advantages is inclusion of CRM and Projects, meaning it can be a free, private, turnkey solution for service-focused SMBs.
- MakeUseOf published a comparison of Chocolatey and winget, two tools for Windows that simplify the installation and update of FOSS applications. For business users, key decision points include Chocolatey for Business’ (C4B) central management and more robust catalog versus winget, which is free and already integrated into the Windows OS.
- The open source IceHrm received the vote for best performance management in TechRepublic’s list of top free HRM solutions. Its other features include recruitment, time tracking/leave management, payroll, and training. As with many FOSS solutions, it’s available for self-hosting by following the instructions on its GitHub page.
- This article from ZDNet touches on the highlights of the 22.04.2 Long Term Support (LTS) release of Ubuntu. With conservative upgrades of key components, the update refines the Ubuntu experience while favoring stability and simplicity.
- A piece on Medevel lists many (many!) open source health applications. It covers systems such as electronic health records (EHR), picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), laboratory information systems (LIMS), and hospital management systems (HMS), and mentions notable FOSS options for each.
- While most attention (and presumably market share) has shifted to The Document Foundation’s LibreOffice, its parent project OpenOffice has issued a new maintenance release. Now part of The Apache Foundation, its blog on the release mentions availability in the Microsoft Store for some languages alongside bugfixes and miscellaneous improvements.
- Strapi, a “headless” CMS, announced its SaaS offering Strapi Cloud (by way of BusinessWire). A headless content management system brings the productivity benefits of an administration UI, page templates, and widgets, only without some the overhead and vulnerability of a traditional (database-driven) CMS.
Server Closet
- HashiCorp Vault featured in The Daily Swig’s list of enterprise secrets platforms. Its open source, self-hostable version is available from the company’s Vault Project website.
Board Room
- If you’ve heard of this “open source software” thing but aren’t quite sure what it is or, more importantly, where all this software comes from, this article from The Register is for you. In summary, companies employ many of the contributors who write code for FOSS. Perhaps more surprisingly, Red Hat (the largest pure open source software company in the world) lost out the top contributor spot to both Google and Microsoft.
- TechCrunch ran an article [$$] on turning open source into a business. From the perspective of SMB IT decision makers, it highlights how you can support the open source projects you consider in becoming formal commercial entities.
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