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Non-profits use open source software

Howard Lake | 1 September 2002 | News

Open source software is low-cost and often runs well on slightly older computer hardware. No wonder non-profit organisations are taking an interest in it.

Writing in Newsforge, the online newspaper on Linux and open source software, Grant Gross says that open source software and non-profits are a match made in heaven. One intranet software company told him “There’s probably more interest [in open source software] from non-profits than any other vertical we target.”

The reasons for this interest include better products from Linux vendors, the use of Linux by more for-profit companies, and of course licensing changes at Microsoft and the cost of buying and running commercial software.

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Open Source tools for Web design and hosting are particularly popular with non-profits. Software in use includes Linux servers, Apache, PHP and MySQL.

Read Open Source and non-profits: A match made in heaven by Grant Gross at Newsforge.

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