Mac & Open-Source Showcase: Your Thoughts Please!

[matthemercyless]

Hey everyone.

I'm sure you will all be pleased to know that I am due to start work with a small community orientated not-for-profit organisation in 2 weeks, and as part of my role, I will be required to set up the office's computer hardware and software solutions.

Unfortunately, the other organisations we are working alongside already have licenses for fundraising software and the like, which requires a Windows OS. However, I am looking to set up several Macs for our office, and run Windows alongside the OS X applications when needed via virtualisation.

I really would like to show off the benefits of kitting out the office with Macs, and would love to fill them up with enterprise software that is mainly open-source freeware and where essential, open-source but very cheap to license.

My current list includes:

Open Office/ Neo Office
Open Project - An open source port of Microsoft Project
Gimp
Nvu
Q Emulator

(Plus a copy of Windows but should I go XP or Vista, and can I just bu an OEM version?!!?)

So does anyone know of some really good project management, fundraising, accounting/budgeting, task management, to-do management, web-development software that meets my requirements?

Also, has anyone used squarespace.com?

We will need a simple website and was wondering if squarespace might save us a few quid in the long run.


On the hardware side, I am thinking of trying to get a deal on some refurbished hardware. I am hoping to get some old generation Intel iMacs (because lets face it, they're sexy) but am I better off just going for a few Mac Minis and just bumping the Ram to get every last ounce of power?!

I would really appreciate your thoughts and input, and I will let you know what the final office consists of!

 

[BlueRevolution]

If that's your shopping list, why not set them with Ubuntu as the primary OS? It'll be a lot cheaper than going Mac-based.

 

[matthemercyless]

I like your enthusiasm! However, one step at a time I think. To be honest, I don't have that much experience of trouble shooting Linux, so I wouldn't be confident in installing it, if I can't answer simple questions when something doesn't work.

I have lots of experience of working with Macs, so I think I will stick to OS X for now.

 

[longwood]

I can't say that I use any project management/task management applications, but a quick search brought up this:

http://www.3point7designs.com/blog/2008/04/08/free-mac-project-time-management-tools/

also this:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30009/sharedplan-cpro-project-management

 

[ravenvii]

For virtual desktops (for running Windows alongside OS X), use VirtualBox, an open source virtualization software that's in most ways equal to Parallels and VMWare (I could even argue that it's better than Parallels).

www.virtualbox.org

As for Linux, try Ubuntu. It's surprisingly easy to use and surprisingly full of features. Experiment with it, you might like what you see. Oh, and VirtualBox works great on Ubuntu, too!

Just an FYI, Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" comes out on April 23, with many improvements and new features.