As with any software there are many categories, Sourceforge a well know directory of open source solutions has nearly 300,000 different projects listed with nearly 4,000 listed as 'Financial' alone.. The main types of software that our customers have required are listed below but there are many other types. If you have any requirements for software not listed please contact us so we can let you know what open source software may be available.

• Content Management Software (CMS) - Used to design and control websites allowing non technical people to update their own website.
• Accounting Software - From micro business's to large limited companies there is software to help prepare your accounts, manage stock, projects and POS (point of sale tills).
• Office Software - Word processors, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Drawing, Image editing etc
• Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP) - Integrated Financial management, Stock Control, Warehouse Management and Production Management for medium and large size companies.
• Business Intelligence - Reporting tools that can be run on your business software including CRM and ERP allowing you to get the most essential information presented in a useful way.
• Enterprise Content management (ECM) - Document management including, revisioning, storage and searching including workflow.
• Email and calendering - groupware solutions to manage email and shared calendars allowing access from multiple devices including phones and handhelds.
• Customer/Contact Relationship Management (CRM) - Manage customers, prospects and any other contacts to assist the sale process and/or service management.
• Operating Systems - the system used to control your personal computer and servers hardware and to run software applications.
  

Whether a particular open source software package is right for your business depends on many factors and this is where Outserve can help select the right software for you. Below are some examples of open source software in each category and there  proprietary (closed source) equivalents.

Category	Open Source Example	Proprietary Equivalent
CMS (Content Management System)	Joomla!	Microsoft Sharepoint Server 2007
Accounting Software	LedgerSMB	Sage Line 50
Office Software	OpenOffice	Microsoft Office
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)	Openbravo	Microsft Dynamics
Business Intelligence - Reporting	Pentaho	SAS
ECM (Enterprise Content Management)	Alfresco	Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server
Email and Calendering	Zimbra	Microsoft Exchange and Outlook
Customer Relationship Management	SugarCRM	Salesforce.com
Operating System	Ubuntu Linux	Windows