The Practical Manager's Guide to Open Source [Paperback]

Maria Winslow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2004

The Practical Manager's Guide to Open Source is the first book to arm IT directors and system administrators with the knowledge they need to evaluate open source software for their particular computing environments. Winslow guides the reader through the process of finding practical uses for open source that will integrate seamlessly into their existing infrastructure, as well as understanding the costs and savings. This book includes information on the best professional-quality low-cost software for Linux, with dozens of listings, including where to download and where to find support. Case studies are used to demonstrate ways open source has been successfully deployed by peers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Maria Winslow is an open source business analyst based in Chapel Hill, NC. She is a contributing editor of LinuxWorld Magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1411611462
• ISBN-13: 978-1411611467
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,018,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does it make business sense to replace Windows with Linux?, January 17, 2005

By 

Christian Einfeldt "Digital Tipping Point guy" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Practical Manager's Guide to Open Source (Paperback)

Linux, sometimes called GNU/Linux, has been around long enough that some of the hype is starting to die down as to whether you should or should not replace proprietary software with open source software like Linux and OpenOffice.org. The discussion has grown from a strictly religious discussion to a nuts-and-bolts discussion about the fiscal upside and downside.

Maria Winslow contributes to the nuts-and-bolts side of the debate with her new book, The Practical Manager's Guide to Open Source. Although it is obvious that Winslow tends to have a personal slant in favor of open source software, sometimes called free software, her slant is based on numbers, not religion.

Winslow starts out with a primer for the business manager who is new to open source. She gives you a short history of how we have gotten here, what's available on the market in terms of functionally solid open source software, and where it might fit in your business.

Winslow next gives examples of real-life settings in which companies or governmental agencies moved to open source, why they moved, and the ups and downs of the migrations. She gives it to you straight, telling the hardships as well as the benefits of those users' migrations. Her unvarnished stories will give you a candid opinion from those who have made the transition, so that you will have a realistic picture of what challenges you might find by moving, as well as the potential upside of moving.

Winslow's best score with this book is the creation of live spreadsheets for the reader to download from her site to use in making actual calculations about the potential return on investment (ROI) in YOUR unique business's IT (information technology) environment. Her spreadsheets will first help you prepare a feasibility report to determine, whether or not you will be wasting your time considering such a move in the first place; and her second spreadsheet gives you a framework for calculating a real-world analysis of what your realistic ROI might be based on your own unique circumstances.

The remainder of the book is dedicated to familiarizing you with places that you can go for further information on getting support; what companies are offering reliable open source solutions; and what will likely happen with the future of open source offerings.

Overall, it is Winslow's opinion that a practical manager will not rip-and-replace wholesale, absent some compelling financial reason for doing so. Rather, Winslow recommends breaking the reader's needs down in terms of time and functionality to time the migration, if at all, so as to maximize both the benefits of open source software, in places where it gives superior performance, as well as cost savings, in places where an open source migration is cheaper than the status quo.

She concludes with a brief review of the controversey between Microsoft and companies such as IBM, Novell, Mandrakesoft, Linspire, etc., as to whether independent studies tend to show that Linux is, in fact, less expensive that Microsoft's proprietary solutions. Microsoft has launched an ad campaign called "Get the Facts" in which it contends that Microsoft solutions are cheaper than the open source alternatives.

Winslow, ever the pragmatist, gives you a brief framework to assist you in evaluating the arguments pro and con on that debate, and offers her own opinion as to where the chips seem to be falling.

This book is not that useful for technical IT managers who are looking for technical solutions to technical problems. However, this book is highly recommended for business managers who would like a pragmatic framework to use in quantifying wether or not to move to open source software, and which aspects of their environment are candidates for migration.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Title Says It All, March 15, 2005

By 

John Fuller (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Practical Manager's Guide to Open Source (Paperback)

This is a very clear and concise book that provides not only guidance in the decision making but also simple explanations that a manager can use to promote the funding and policy changes necessary to support a migration. Dealing with non-technical senior management is always a challenge but this helps a great deal. I did not expect this book to be one I had to read cover to cover but I found myself doing just that. The worksheets that the book recommends (available on their website) will open your eyes. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I really wanted to like it, but ..., November 30, 2005

By 

V. Kouyoumjian - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Practical Manager's Guide to Open Source (Paperback)

I thought I could just keep silent on this, but I can't. I was disappointed with Ms. Winslow's publication, as much as I really wanted to like the book.
Here's why:

* Too simplified. Although this book makes for an 'easy read', she glosses over the details of important, and often complex, topics, such as the intricacies of the GPL license and how it differs from BSD-style licenses. I implore all readers interested in open source to read at _least_ one more significant publication on this topic.

* Too much opinion. I noticed that Ms. Winslow tended to interject her opinion with the facts such that the two became blurred for this reader.

* Older references. Too many of her critical sources were from 2001 or 2002. Given the subject, this is not useful to the practical manager who wants to stay current. I realize she published in 2004, but "The Success of Open Source" by Steven Weber was also published in 2004 and it is overflowing with useful references.

* Too Linux-centric. The title belies a broad topic of open source to be covered. Only Linux was her open source focus and success story. Perhaps the title should be "The Practical Manager's Guide To Linux Open Source".

* Poor editing. Although a minor distraction, I lost track of the number of typos.

I did appreciate the case studies, however.

Thanks for your time - .