The OpenSure Free Press 18th April 2011

Posted on by March 20, 2013

Here we are again. We considered changing the Free Press to every three weeks or even once a month, but there’s so much happening that we’re struggling to hold out for once a fortnight, never mind once a month. We hope that confirmed geek or gloriously untecchy, there’s something for you in the Free Press.

Concern Universal
We’re delighted to announce that OpenSure has adopted Hereford-based Concern Universal as its charity for the new financial year. As well as giving Concern Universal a bit of publicity whenever we can and making a donation of our own, we will ask those for whom we do odds and ends of work outwith our usual charging structure to make a donation in lieu of payment to us. We hope you’ll join us in supporting CU’s excellent work in the developing world, especially as we come up to a time of outright gluttony and celebration. We’d like to encourage every reader of the OpenSure Free Press to donate the price of an Easter egg to Concern Universal by donating online.

The three year replacement cycle
Did you know that companies are advised (by whom?) to replace their computers every three years? This article from smallbusiness.co.uk suggests that many SMEs aren’t doing this, with potentially disastrous consequences. But isn’t this whole approach outdated? With so many web-based applications in use and web-based storage (aka cloud computing) to take the strain, is a three year replacement cycle an outmoded concept? You might wish to upgrade after three years for a new toy or to keep up with developments, but in terms of your computer still functioning as it should, then three years shouldn’t be a big problem if your company is taking advantage of everything the web has to offer and your hosting company is the one with the hardware headaches. For more information on cloud computing search our blog (just click on the word ‘cloud’ in the tag cloud) or for information on how your company could benefit, get in touch directly.

Drupal, WordPress or Joomla?
Drupal, WordPress and Joomla are three of the most popular web-based open source website creation programs. So far so comparable, but they have different strengths and features and vastly differing levels of complexity. This article from Resource Nation is a brief run-down of the three programs, their popularity and application.

Are you reading this at home?
With all the bank holidays coming up plus the children being off for Easter, chances are you’ll be keeping an eye on things from home over the next couple of weeks. Or is that the norm for you anyway? This article from Mashable suggests it’s becoming more and more common, and we’ve even heard the estimable suggestion that it could be offered instead of a pay rise. What do you think? Are your company systems set up for working wherever you like? We’re happy to advise on this and all other aspects of remote working.

Other bits and pieces that have caught our eye recently include:

* Mushrooms with that sir? Good old Dell pilots mushroom-based packaging
* If you’re more of a FaceBook fiend that a Twitter tweeter, have a look at our overhauled FaceBook page
* China bans time travel – Dr Who’s days are numbered
* Indispensable darling – Debrett’s guide to Tweeting
* And lastly, in honour of the royal wedding, we bring you this…

We’d like to wish all our readers a Happy Easter and hope you have an enjoyable couple of short working weeks.

Which software are we using and recommending?

Posted on by March 4, 2014

We read with interest this recent article on computing.co.uk. The first paragraph is very encouraging:

“The uptake of open source software within businesses has increased considerably over the past 10 years, almost to the point, say analysts, where there are more organisations now using some form of open source tool than not.”

Good news, even if you bear in mind that many of those companies may be using free applications unaware that they’re open source, so it isn’t necessarily an informed choice but this is good too, it shows that good open source software is just seen as good software and we view this as a positive thing; it’s not always necessarily or desirable to bang the drum.

The second paragraph starts on a cautionary note however:

“But it is important to remember that not all open source software is the same – quality, cost and support resources vary considerably from one application or operating system to another…”

We couldn’t agree more, and it fits in with a comment made later in the article by Mark Driver of Gartner about open source obsessives advocating its use on idealogical and ethical grounds alone. When open source is pushed on idealogical grounds alone, the business argument is lost.

Every application that we use to run our services and our offices, and the applications that we recommend to clients and implement on their behalf, has been researched by us extensively, tested on our systems and in many cases used happily for several years – don’t forget that open source is not the newcomer many think it is, it’s been around for decades. If an application proves unsuitable for a client or develops beyond its usefulness to us or, as occasionally happens, is withdrawn, we find an alternative. We put a lot of time into tracking software developments and ensuring we’re well-placed to advise clients old and new on the best set-up for their company.

So what are we using? We won’t bore you to tears with an exhaustive list, but to run our servers we use packages including Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, MySQL, Postgre SQL, Apache, Zimbra and PostFix.

To run our daily office functions we mainly use WordPress for website creation and editing, Libre Office for the usual office suite applications, Gedit as a notepad and useful tool to strip out formatting, Zimbra for email, calendars and collaboration, Piwik for web stats, Chromium for browsing, GIMP for graphics, Empathy for instant messaging and Scribus for desktop publishing. We’d happily recommend these to any client, as well as many more applications including FireFox, Chrome, Thunderbird email, Open Office office suite and Feng Office web-based collaboration. We’ve also firted with EtherPad simple real-time document collaboration. Many of these tried, tested and reliable programs are available to download from our Downloads page as well as via the links above.

What we recommend depends on how our clients work and their needs, desires and openness to change. If you’d like more details of how we use any of the programs mentioned above or have a query about an open source alternative to a proprietary application please contact us.

The OpenSure Free Press 4th April 2011

Posted on by March 20, 2013

Welcome to the first April edition of the OpenSure Free Press, or ‘newsletter’ as we called this sort of thing in the unenlightened past. Keeping “on trend” and moving with the times is important in business, especially in our field where things move so fast. Putting a toe into the cloud can make this as easy as falling off a log as at one stroke your company’s services are hosted on up-to-date, well-maintained kit capable of keeping up with the latest developments, and all without serious investment on your part. Just one reason why the cloud rocks.

Matesourcing
You may not have heard of this, but you’ve almost certainly done it. It’s not a new phenomenon, but Business Matters recently christened it and revealed that shocking numbers of small businesses rely on unofficial and amateur help with their IT. When you think of the consequences to the average small business of an IT glitch, never mind complete meltdown, this really is quite horrifying. If smoothly-running IT is important or vital to your company’s continued success, ensure it’s well looked after by professionals. The blog post above tells you what to look for when finding a company to do the job.

Massive Attack
You may have heard of the recent attacks spreading Windows Stability Center malware – this is not something you will suffer from on Linux – ie our systems. The attack was not exploiting a weakness on MS SQL itself but Windows web applications that used it, such as CMS and sites using MS SQL that were not updated and poorly designed. Don’t feel confident that your antivirus will protect you: only about 40% of antivirus scanners can pick up the Stability Center Virus. Please do talk to us if you’d like to move to a more secure system not vulnerable to this sort of thing. As TechNewsWorld says, “Are antivirus vendors asleep on their feet? If so, why are consumers paying for protection?”.

Hereford Open Source Day
Our Technical Director Kevin Dontenville flew the OpenSure flag at HOSD and helped to bring open source to the attention of yet more potential users. We were delighted to be presented with an award for promoting open source technology in the business sector, thank-you HLUG. Our account of the day is here, there’s a photo of Kevin receiving our award from the Mayor of Hereford here and the whole award ceremony is on YouTube here.

Other bits and pieces that have caught our eye recently include:

* World Backup Day – If this is what it takes to bring home the importance of backing up, then we’re all for it. As the site says, don’t be an April fool.
* StartUp Britain – Sounded good then was deconstructed and the site linked to malware, but it seems to have something all the same.
* Government Single Domain – I can’t help thinking this sounds like a wine, but is in fact the project alphagov, explained here by Jimmy Leach.
* To quote our friend Neil Rose, “Are you an ex or soon to be ex public sector employee thinking of starting a business?” Neil can help so please get in touch with him if you’re in this position. To quote BizMatters Magazine, “Think about those things that are scaring you right now. Is “losing my job” or “starting a business” one?”
* Updates for your computer? This little cartoon (scroll down a we bit) says it all.

We hope you enjoy the newsletter. If you do, please leave a comment below, but if you’d prefer to unsubscribe please email info@opensure.net with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line.