OStatic

The Linux Foundation welcomed its newest member today, the European-based free and open source standards consulting firm, credativ. This new partnership is a particularly exciting one, thanks to credativ's presence in the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, and its focus on creating and implementing standards.

Naturally, credativ's business -- providing consulting and support services to businesses using free and open source software -- means it will take an active role in the Linux Standard Base workgroup. Because credativ is one of Europe's largest employers of Debian developers, the company also plans to participate in the Desktop Linux workgroup.

Thinking about using open-source software in your business? That's a great idea, and might well save you money. But don't assume that the only cost will be installing and configuring the program. No, the biggest cost will be integrating your new program into your organization. The integration may well require a consultant, or an in-house expert in these matters. But even so, using open-source software almost guarantees that the integration will be easier and cheaper than would be the case with proprietary software.