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© Teemu Mäntynen

The free open source office software suite LibreOffice has only been in existence for six months. It was created in response to Oracle's unclear intentions regarding OpenOffice.org, which had long been the community's preferred open source productivity suite.

Oracle had chosen to keep OpenOffice to itself, but now it appears to be changing course. The company said it believes that the OpenOffice.org project would be best managed by an organization that is focused on development on a non-commercial basis. It remains to be seen what form the newly freed project will take next, especially considering how rapidly LibreOffice has been embraced by distros and users worldwide. There is a real question over whether OpenOffice still has a place in this world, and this has been fiercely debated on all the Linux blogs since the news broke.

© FHKE

If only we could rely on open source software entirely for our self-marketing purposes. Unfortunately, eventually someone needs to get paid by you so for many small businesses the marketing budget is extremely tight during the beginning. But that's when marketing is most important.

Luckily, there's a way for start-ups to find the extra capital they need to inject into marketing: workplace virtualization.
They call the space wherein all of your quick-access buttons are on a computer the desktop. In today's world, the mobile device truly is it's own desk. With that said, who needs desks? And if you don't need desks, do you need an office?
If your office space is mostly for keeping up appearances and centralizing your efforts, then get rid of it. You don't need it if you seek out office virtualization software or get on a VMWare server.

Even that's not a requirement, as web 2.0 offers independent businesses all sorts of ways to manage their day-to-day activities and responsibilities completely via the web. Skype can let meetings happen between anybody anywhere. Google Chrome gives everyone the ability to access basic office applications anywhere and the data therein. Cloud storage make the demand for a concrete place to store data an archaic requirement for starting your own business.
Even if keeping an office is judged as an essential part of your business, you can still save serious cash by moving everything you can into easily-connected digital space. Your office probably already looks barebones as it is, what's the harm in turning it into appearances only? That's especially the case if you're like the majority of other modern businesses and rely almost completely on online marketing to get noticed.
It won't matter that your skimping on office atmosphere to make for better online marketing since the overwhelming majority of those who will be giving you money are going to become convinced to do so through the Internet and not stopping by your office.

Turn any computer at your disposal into a virtual portal to your business. It'll save time, money, and a whole bunch of stress. On top of that, it lets you free up some capital that can be better spent on internet marketing and other precious promotional activities.

Give it a shot. All you have to lose is your office and that's not much of a loss, let's be honest.

© tsuihin – TimoStudios

In a move that was sure to attract the ire of the open source activists, the German Foreign Office announced its decision to discontinue the use of free open source software in favor of Microsoft in February. This announcement was a complete about turn of the German Government's policy since 2005, of exclusively using only open source software.

As a result of this move, Government will go back to using Microsoft XP & Windows 7 instead of Linux and open source software. OpenOffice & Thunderbird will also be replacing MS Office & Outlook under the new guidelines.

The German Government's decision has been heavily criticized and led to an inquiry by the green Bündnis 90/Grüne Party. However, Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), the non profit organization engaged in creating awareness and support for the open source software usage, is not very happy with the government's response to the inquiry.