This document provides an overview of open source software that can be used by non-profit organizations. It discusses popular open source operating systems like Linux and BSD and describes commonly used server software such as Samba, Mailman, LAMP stacks, and content management systems. It also mentions desktop applications like Mozilla Suite, Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, and GIMP. The document notes that while over 60% of non-profits use open source on their web servers, only around 20% use it as their desktop operating system. Barriers to adoption include familiarity with proprietary tools and lack of support and expertise.

1. Open Source Software You Can Use Michelle Murrain Nonprofit Open Source Initiative MetaCentric Technology Advising October 23, 2008

3. If your website is on a Unix or Linux based host – you've been using open source software already.

4. Some of the software I'll talk about you might implement with help of a provider.

7. Web/mail server software

8. Database systems

10. About this review This is not an exhaustive list of all free and open source software that is mature and usable. But it is a good review of most of the software out there that is going to be useful to nonprofit organizations. For more tools, go to: http://socialsourcecommons.org

12. Debian

14. Edubuntu

16. SUSE

18. OpenBSD

19. NetBSD

20. Darwin (Basis of Mac OS X – based on FreeBSD)

21. a few others, not much used

23. Linux and BSD are virtually ubiquitous in web hosting environments, from virtual host companies, to large enterprises (like Yahoo and Google.)

25. You can buy a box sometimes (relatively inexpensive) in a store (may come with installation support.)

26. Download an ISO from the website of the distribution or a mirror, either directly or via bittorrent (won't come with any support except community support.)

27. Buy a CD from OSDisc, or another vendor (also won't come with support – these just duplicate the CDs from the websites – so they are cheap if bandwidth is an issue.)

30. Mailman – mailing list manager

33. Included in all unix-based virtual hosting services.

34. Each component of the stack is Mature

37. Joomla

38. Plone

39. These three have become standard. They have overlapping feature sets, and they are differently customizable. But all are very solid CMS platforms

41. Alfresco

43. Movable Type – also specialized for blogging

44. Drupal

45. Joomla

46. MediaWiki

47. Project Pier

48. Moodle (Courseware)

49. phpBB

51. SugarCRM – server-based enterprise CRM package

52. SugarCRM

53. CiviCRM

55. Thunderbird

57. Camino (Mac browser)

59. Adium (Mac OS X)

60. GIMP

61. Firefox

62. Thunderbird

64. It will read and write Microsoft Office formats (except Office Open XML).

65. It uses open standards for native document formats

66. It exports PDFs

67. OO Base ≠ Access (way too immature)

69. OO Writer OO Calc

70. GIMP

72. 80% used FOSS on Windows desktops (largely Firefox)

73. Many fewer (~20%) used FOSS as a desktop operating system

75. Lack of support

76. Lack of staff expertise

77. Lack of training

79. http://nosi.net/projects/primer - Updated Open Source primer written in 2007.

80. http://nosi.net - NOSI's website.