This page consists of proven tactics and products to give you better I.T. for less money. Most companies settle for traditional technologies, continually paying more for obsolete products and exhorbitant maintenance costs. The average large company is handicapped by long term agreements with technology companies who prosper by the status quo. Smaller companies assume that they just don't have the means, skillset-wise and investment-wise, to take advantage of better technologies.

Here's some good news: Each month that goes by, more companies, both large and small, take a look at these new technologies and tactics... they may do a cost-benefit analysis, or they may put a Linux server alongside their Windows server to compare them. The results are consistent. Every step away from traditional, closed technologies results in better performance and lower cost. Where there is competition, companies who embrace these new technologies zoom past their competitors.

There are many companies whose bread and butter is obsolescence. Many government contracts demand that old technologies be used, and allocate lots of money to cover the associated high costs. Many companies thrive on the status quo, each organization supporting the others with long-term exclusive contracts. These are not our customers.

We love to work with organizations that want to do better. More and more government departments, blue chip corporations, and small companies are realizing that they will eventually lose their customers if they don't embrace the technologies and tactics that the rising stars are using now.

• Avoid vendor lock-in. Even if you have contracts with vendors, make your systems work with alternative products or your vendor will dictate all terms. Don't make any long-term contracts with technology providers. Don't prevent yourself from taking advantage of unanticipated bargains and advances in the future, in a field where price drops and technical advances are the norm.
• Take advantage of free services Many companies offer great, free services. An example is Google. Google offers free office tools that are not only easier to use than the traditional products, but they provide storage, security, and universal access for you. (They are admittedly and necessarily less feature-rich than Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org. This is an advantage to the casual user.)
• Always consider open-source alternatives. It is amazing how often an open source alternative will be just as reliable as the commercial offerings. When there are both open source and commercial products which can satisfy the business need, the additional commercial features (bells and whistles) are usually not only unnecessary, but a distraction which consumes resources.
• Consider non-traditional offerings. One example is server consolidation. I.e., replacing many server with far fewer servers which can provide all the services at least as well, and reliably as the originals. Another example is a period purchase of newer laptop computers. Instead of assuming that you need incrementally faster processors and memory in order to run larger and larger business applications and security suites, consider running server-based business applications and stripping down (or getting a better) operating system. Don't assume that maintenance contracts and name brands are more cost effective than buying extras and shopping for compatibility.

It is usually impractical to completely stop using Microsoft products. Microsoft is the most successful marketing company in history. You can count on it that a person who has never run Microsoft products and competitive free products will assume that the Microsoft offering must be better. For most people, these misapprehensions dissipate if they have an opportunity to really try out a good alternative.

So, whereas you probably do not want to stop using Microsoft products, it is definitely in your best interest to start encouraging the use of alternatives. Firefox 3 is a great starting place. School children use Firefox, yet it is more powerful and has more extensions available than the latest Internet Explorer (including standard support for common web technologies like Flash, Javascript and Java). It is better to use for web development and testing, because it follows World Wide Web standards much more closely than Internet Explorer.

With respect to operating systems, your average MCSE (Microsoft Engineer) acknowledges that other operating systems are better than Microsoft operating systems in many, if not all, respects. The inverse is not true at all. UNIX system administrators are typically amazed at how feeble and ill-designed Windows operating systems are.

Here is a table showing several products where small businesses can directly benefit by switching to superior free alternative.