Open Source Software (OSS) has started making inroads into business applications in a big way. So far, OSS has never been perceived as a serious alternative to SAP, Oracle and Microsoft business solution simply because the business and domain knowledge required to develop such software was often missing in the traditional OSS “hackers”.

But all this is set to change and there are several viable OSS alternatives to commercial business applications now. So far (IMHO), the leader of this pack seems to be OpenERP. Sporting a Web 2.0 interface as well as a desktop client, this software is fairly comprehensive, has a large community and is now raising the bar with a new Business Intelligence module. Another OSS effort that has been around for a long time is Compiere. I’m listing a few other links below to other such noteworthy solutions:-

1. OpenBravo- http://www.openbravo.com/
2. OpenTaps (ERP and CRM)- http://www.opentaps.org/
3. Apache OFBiz- http://ofbiz.apache.org/
4. SugarCRM- http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/
5. Neogia- http://www.neogia.org/Welcome
6. XTuple (PostBooks)- http://www.openmfg.com/postbooks

So the next time you need a business application, try out some of the above and you might be pleasantly surprised. Besides the price is right :-)