...escape. Every conference brochure includes an advertisement for DonorTec, selling Vista licences for AU$11 each (plus GST) or Office for AU$22.
But the hard sell might not be needed; non-profit organisations are hugely in favour of DonorTec. "Donortec were fabulous," said Windana's Kelly. The Windana Society purchased AU$80,000 worth of Microsoft products for AU$10,000, and AU$6,000 worth of Cisco gear for AU$600. "That meant we could use some of the funding we thought we'd have to use on software on servers."
Louise Fisher, special projects officer for the Rural Financial Counselling Service NSW – Central West, was similarly enthused after the service learnt about DonorTec from its IT provider.
The service saved about AU$55,000 on its infrastructure via purchases through DonorTec, Fisher said. "That allowed our organisation to do a lot of things we weren't planning on doing."
In this context, complaints about the dangers of locking in to proprietary software or equipment, however well-argued, are going to have a hard time being heard.
Most presenters recognised that up-front costs were only the first element in the battle, but the reduced software fees mean that the focus remains clearly on staffing problems rather than software costs. "Free software is not really free; you really have to work on it," Kelly said.
Familiarity and stability are also crucial. Many organisations at the conference favoured well-established global hardware suppliers, particularly if they have to operate equipment in remote rural environments.
Building a communications network in far north Queensland presented that kind of challenge for Cape York Digital Network (CYDN). "It's a bit hot up there and there's a fair bit of humidity," said commercial manager Ray Heffernan. "We made sure we bought recognised brands: IBM laptops have less problems in high humidity."
Heffernan advocates the same approach for others in the sector. "Yes, there are plenty of cheap products out there but stick with the good ones because they've also got good support."
Fighting the open source fight
All that is not to say open source doesn't have its champions in the non-profit sector. Darrell Burkey, the president of CASE (Computing Assistance Support and Education), which provides centralised IT support and administration services for non-profits, is a firm fan of FOSS, presenting sessions on using Joomla and how to maximise technology productivity for non-profits.
Burkey isn't convinced that existing tech support options are serving the sector well. "What I'm hearing from you is that you're having a lot of problems with relevant ICT support," he told one audience. "Community groups have basically partnered with the wrong people to get their support, and it's creating a lot of issues."
"What they're going to sell you is what they're familiar with and what will make them money. They're not there to sell you what you need."
Lack of research is also a problem. "People will believe anybody and anything when it comes to IT. False authority is your enemy. Odds are your CEO is not an administrator and the person you should be getting technical advice from."
For all that, Burkey doesn't buy into the Microsoft-is-evil argument either. "I'm not interested in getting into that proprietary vs. FOSS discussion. I'm here to say what works for us; it's not to say that it's the only thing or the holy grail."
No free hardware please
One idea that's often raised is that non-profits could use older computers that have been end-of-lifed by larger businesses, setting them up with open source packages. While these seem environmentally and economically sound, those who have experienced it say it often isn't worth the hassle.
"Being offered free PCs can cost you a lot of money," said Heffernan from CYDN. "What we've found with free PCs for instance is that the software's missing. They're generally older PCs which are harder to maintain."
"I do have my issues with computer recycling projects," said CASE's Burkey. "If it's done improperly it can be fairly damaging to our sector. Outdated equipment is your enemy because it doesn't run modern operating systems, and you need modern operating systems because they're secure."
Admittedly, CASE has a slight advantage when it comes to security: Samba developer and open source legend Andrew Tridgell volunteers for the organisation, assisting with security set-up and systems administration. If there were more volunteers of that calibre, a lot of the current problems might disappear.
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My company, based in Christchurch, NZ, provides Drupal-based web application solutions for non-profit organisations (among others) in New Zealand, and we're stuggling to keep up with demand. Drupal and other open source web framewords are taking off like a rocket with this sector.
Frankly, I can't see how organisations can justify spending any of their scant resources on proprietary software licenses. All software requires some support (and you can get commercial open source support in any city in the world if you look for it), but you don't need to fork out for licenses isn't the best use of your money. Moreover, excellent free alternatives exist for just about any software niche you can name.
It saddens me to see nonprofits becoming increasingly committed to proprietary technologies by accepting these "discounted" price options from big software corporates through thinly veiled "discount" programs. They're not getting a "good deal". They're getting their first hit for free. Software corporates aren't idiots. They offer discounted pricing for very sound economic reasons: history shows that educational and charity discounts gets people using your software where they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it. It effectively locks participating organisation in to their proprietary software products, generally thanks to proprietary file formats (think MS Office or Autocad for example)! It's a treacherous marketplace, and unforgiving for the uninitiated.