Open Source and nonprofits

Great article in the most recent issue of TechSoup's By the Cup on "How Open Source can Open Doors for Nonprofits", written by two staff from the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative. Read the article, and start thinking about open source software as you upgrade

I've long been a supporter of open source software. It is SO amenable to our sector. Think Linux is for hackers only? Why do most servers now come with Linux? Why does IBM avidly promote it? Because, hmm, it works better, is more secure, is fixed regularly and has great worldwide support.

Another great example: The Firefox browser. Incredibly fast, 99.9% more secure than Internet Explorer (nothing is totally secure) with great features that are updated regularly. I've used Firefox since Christmas on my laptop and work computers and for the past three weeks on our family computer. I've run tests on speed, on adware and spyware blocking and popup blocking, and firefox wins, hands down. Like all open source, it's free. The installation takes about 2 minutes, and you can import all the important stuff (Favorites, cookies, settings) from IE.

Open source works--because its about community and about trust. That's really what nonprofits are about: community and trust. Pay attention to this great alternative. Use it as you can.