The REAL key to making a big profit from using Open Source software is
to provide a service - whatever it is you do best, and do it the way
you know it should be done, then have the Open Source software
customized to fit that strategic business model.
Yes, you could buy canned software that lets you do things exactly the
same way everybody else does, but that might mean giving away your
competitive edge as well.
Keep in mind that information is critical to the success of any
business. You need the ability to capture all of the available
information, sift out the most relevant information, organize it to
facilitate rapid decision making, and get that decision communicated to
the affected parties in such a way as to cause minimum delay or
confusion as to what actions are required.
You need to know who your customers are, who your potential customer
are, who your competitors are, what needs does the customer have that
you can meet, and know how to meet them better and more
cost-effectively than your competitors.
You don't need to manually recreate new documents for each clients, you
need to capture the critical information about the client, and use what
you already know about your client to minimize their effort in ordering
and getting support.
Linux and Open Source provide the framework for that level of
customization, as a result, it's much easier to create custom solutions
with less effort. You can often get an open source consultant who can
craft solutions in PERL, PHP, and Java in a few days which would take
months in custom-coded C++ or C. And you couldn't even get that level
of customization in a Windows application.
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