10 Cool Free Software Apps For SMBs
What better place to start our first-half free software roundup than at the OS level? Canonical's Linux-based PC operating system, Ubuntu, may not have anywhere near the market share of Microsoft Windows. But with Ubuntu 9.04, also known as Jaunty Jackalope, we're getting another improved edition of a leading free, open-source client OS on Canonical's roughly six-month release cycle. Ubuntu 9.04 -- version numbers reflect the year and month of release rather than incremental upgrades -- boots faster than its predecessor and now supports hotplugging and better support for netbooks.
Desktop installation includes GIMP 2.6, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and OpenOffice.org 3.0. Canonical will provide support for 9.04 users through October 2010. It's not the best fit for large-scale IT environments, but smaller organizations unsettled about ponying up for Windows 7 license fees might want to give the Jackalope and its successor a look-see.
Category: Operating Systems
Release date: April 23, 2009
If you're a small business, the free price tag for migrating 50 users or less to Google Apps office software can't be beat. Throw in this year's major effort by Google to deliver hosted back-end services such as Gmail and Calendar via familiar client interfaces like Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes, and you've got a Software-as-a-Service package for business that has the box-and-license boys sweating.
Our only objection -- the free version, Google Apps Standard Edition, may be a bit sparse in terms of storage space and features for all but the smallest of organizations. Alternatively, for a yearly fee of $50 per user the Premier Edition is far more robust and will probably still cost your business a good deal less than running Microsoft Exchange Server.
Category: E-mail, Office Software
Release date: June 9, 2009
This one's a bit of a cheat, because OpenOffice.org 3.0 -- the first major milestone release for the Java-based office software suite in three years by developer Sun Microsystems -- actually came out last October. But the new platform, which added a native port for Mac OS X and Office Open XML document importing, among other features, was stabilized with a bug fix in January and May's version 3.1 release adds overlining and transparent dragging. So we're happy to tout perhaps the most popular free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office available for the SMB -- with the caveat that Oracle's pending takeover of Sun does raise some questions about the future of this product.
Category: Office Software
Release date: May 7, 2009
The second major edition of Gbridge adds Google Apps support to this easy-to-use set of VPN, file synchronization and remote control freeware tools. Originally designed for home users to share files with family and friends, Gbridge 2.0 is also a nice fit for SoHo environments, where remote access to shared computing resources is a must . . . but pricey vendor offerings of same is decidedly not. Secure VNC and file sharing, remote backup and even remote PC management is all possible via this free extension of Google Gtalk, but larger organizations be warned -- Gbridge doesn't always play nicely with proxies and firewalls.
Category: Networking
Release date: Aug. 5, 2009
Mozilla in July decided to skip the incremental numbering for its first big update to last year's phenomenally successful Firefox 3.0 release, and tossed this unusually polished-up version of the Web browser over the wall to a growing legion of fans. Among other improvements, Firefox 3.5, code named Shiretoko, adds support for multitouch and HTML 5 tags, as well as making mashups easier. So how is this a business app? Well, with just about everybody in the modern office dependent upon the Internet, why wouldn't you want to give your employees the best surfing experience out there? Did we mention it's free?
Cateogry: Browsers
Release date: July 29, 2009
No doubt you have your preferred instant messaging app, and "free" isn't a particularly meaningful distinction for a product category that nobody but the enterprise pays for anyway. We'll just say this -- try Trillian. If you don't like it, AIM will still be there. But first, get a load of that user interface on Version 4.0, otherwise known as Trillian Astra. Sexy! And if you're a business, here's what this Cerulean Studios creation offers in its Basic edition of Trillian -- a multiprotocol IM that plays equally well with AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and IRC, plus further synchronization with Novell GroupWise Messenger, Bonjour, XMPP and Skype has been added in the Astra release.
Category: Instant Messaging
Release date: Aug. 4, 2009
Yes, your in-house IT pro or outsourced managed service provider will have to look at some ads framing the management console for this increasingly robust IT admin platform -- that's what pays the bills for Spiceworks. But we guarantee that the zero-dollar-per-seat fee for this systems management software will more than make up for that indignity.
Spiceworks, founded by former IBM Tivoli developers just a couple of years ago, is now on its fourth version, which adds network mapping and an Exchange 2007 help desk among other improvements to the software's capabilities for remote management of small-scale IT environments. No, Spiceworks shouldn't replace pay-to-play systems and network management tools in organizations with 50 or more end users, but for smaller outfits, it's pretty great.
Category: Systems management
Release date: June, 2009
Another slight cheat -- GIMP 2.6 was released last October. But crucially, the 2.6.1 version added "One Window GIMP" for Microsoft Windows to further sweeten the pot for all those Adobe Photoshop hardliners. What's that? Well, yes, GIMP 2.6.1 also came out last year . . . give us a break, we're talking about GIMP! Because here's the thing -- we were raised on Photoshop, we know Photoshop and for the longest time, we went out of our way to insist that GIMP is no Photoshop.
And it's not, but it's closer than you might think, especially after major interface revisions with Version 2.6. Until we actually sat down and worked with this freeware raster graphics editor, we didn't realize what a suitable tool this is for probably 90 percent of the image editing being done for big bucks with Photoshop in your average office.
Category: Graphics Editing
Release date: Oct. 1, 2008
A Microsoft product in a roundup of free software? That heresy aside, the software giant's new client antivirus freeware, code named Morro, is garnering positive reviews for resource usage and malware detection, even as some of the top vendors of licensed security software pooh-pooh Microsoft's ability to beat them at their own game. Microsoft Security Essentials is still in the beta-testing phase but is scheduled for release before the end of 2009.
The price point and the looming retail release of Windows 7 are enough to make Microsoft Security Essentials of interest to SMBs. And while Microsoft may well be using Morro as a stalking horse to further solidify the position of its other paid products on the PC, the company is unlikely to risk antitrust scrutiny and bundle it with Windows any time soon.
Category: Security Software
Release date: June 23, 2009 (beta)
For a more familiar name in the world of free security software, we turn to AVG and the release of its Internet Security 8.5 PC protection tools. The Czech company acquired identity theft prevention software developer Sana Security in January, and has incorporated a Sana-built behavioral analysis module called Identity Protection into this latest version of its complete security suite, which also includes antivirus, antispyware, antirootkit, antispam and Web filtering components. Reviews of Internet Security 8.5 have been largely positive, with a few complaints about the extra resource-hogging the Sana module adds. Identity Protection essentially lets you see how the software decides what a threat is -- perhaps not important to a lot of consumers, but we reckon some businesses might be happy to have that data.
Category: Security Software
Release date: March, 2009