Why Use Open Source Content Management?
The short answer is why pay for professional grade software when you can get competitive open source software free. For a small office/home office or SOHO, open source content management can be a competitive advantage because the costs of installing, maintaining and operation can be a lot less. The problem in any case is selecting the right one for building your business.
The main cost centers in a SOHO business are accounting/administration management, goods/services production management, and marketing/sales management. The open source alternative to Microsoft Office is called OpenOffice. This open source content management system is a widely compatible office application suite that works on different computer operating systems including the latest versions of Mac, Unix, and Windows.
Whatever product or service you choose to sell, it will at least in part require some form of instruction, manual, or other content that can be managed in digital format. Alternatively, the more digital your product or service can become the more competitive you can be. SOHO production management involves the combination of documents, products and services that can be packaged and distributed on the Internet.
Open source content management for production includes image, graphics, and web software. A popular alternative to Photoshop is GIMP and like OpenOffice can be used on Mac, Unix, and Windows operating systems. The production and packaging of graphics and content for both administration and marketing communication also needs a web-based delivery system that can be part of the SOHO management mix.
A web content management system needs to simplify the publication of your business and marketing messages. Optionally, it should also be able to allow content to be submitted without requiring technical knowledge of HTML or the uploading of files. Blogs have become the open source content management system of choice on the web.
In the same way investment in MS Office may be preferable to OpenOffice and Photoshop to GIMP, WordPress stands out as the open source product of choice for professional web developers. WP is simple enough for the non-technical to set up and operate and open enough for the technically inclined to transform into a fully customized open source content management system.
Overall, content management can appear very complex. However, it does not have to be complicated or expensive when you start. No matter what software you choose to manage your content, you will still have to spend the time to learn how to use it. In each part of your SOHO operation your costs can be reduced using the most popular free resources and outsourcing the creative and technical tasks for professional results as needed.
When you build an open source content management system the working parts like file formats can be specified so you can make changes yourself. The important part of outsourcing is to make sure you get the source files as well as the final copies of the content you will distribute. The purpose of learning open source software is so you can make changes to your content without having to wait or pay more than you have to.
