SynApps The Open Source and Gadget blog

"Wild times", as Likewise's Barry Crist starts his monthly newsletter "Open Source in Today's Economic Climate", we sure have. As all purses are being locked down we are happily creating the next recession ourselves, as usual. US VC firms are now famous for encouraging their portfolio companies to finally learn how to fire people (and how not to).

Can there winners of this crisis? Are there ways to avoid becoming a loser?

As we have seen in other downtimes – it’s not always the biggest and the strongest that survive in times of crises – it’s the smart, the innovative, the quick.

As Barry states, such times encourage the "do more with less" and quick ROI behavior. This all boils down to reducing cost significantly. But wait, isn't that what Open Source and SaaS does?

As budgets constrict, as headcount lowers – demands on IT will not decrease, they will almost certainly increase. Open Source and Software as a Service will all bring IT staff – and end users – the abilities and cost savings they need and the innovation they want.

Linux operating systems, like Ubuntu, OpenSUSE or Fedora can give users a free alternative to Windows and Unix which – when budgets begin to return – can continue to be used but with more features or maintenance contracts. And I think we’ll see that with other Open Source projects with similar models (Likewise Software is a good example) – I need to do this, this free Open Source project allows me to do that, but when my budget returns I would love to have those advanced (pay) features.

SaaS applications – especially those built from cost-effective Open Source – will continue to be a terrific way for business and individuals to get what they need (be it Google Aps or email) in an extraordinarily cost effective, simple way. As we move forward, SaaS will give individuals and SMBs the same tools currently enjoyed by large businesses.

A SaaS Messaging and Collaboration offering like 1&1 MailXchange costs between 24 and 60 bucks per year and user, including mobility support. A comparable On-Premise installation with MS Exchange, Blackberry Enterprise Server, Sharepoint, the hardware, electricity, and, most costly, the admin to take care of the complex environment, costs you between 50.000 and 100.000, per year. If you are a 10, 20, 50 people company, SaaS and OSS can save you between 80% and 99% of your current cost.

Not only can small companies benefit from moving to OSS and SaaS, also very large corporations are now looking at making some radical decisions.

Exciting times for companies like Likewise and Open-Xchange and others that drive the OSS / SaaS models.

Crisis? What crisis?