Gartner Web Development, LLC

We talk about Open Source and Free Software on this website quite a bit. I’m sure that many are skeptical as to whether or not this really means anything practical for their business. This week, we begin a series of articles that will highlight specific Open Source and Free Software programs that have real world applications for your business. I’m sure, by now, you’ve noticed that there are two terms being used: Open Source and Free Software. There are subtle distinctions between the two, suffice to say, we need not get into software licensing minutiae to help you understand how this all can save your company money. One thing to keep in mind though, when we say “Free Software”, think free as in free speech or liberty - not free as in no cost. Also keep in mind that the vast majority of Free and Open Source Software are in fact available at no cost. You are probably wondering how companies that develop this type of software make a living. Most of their income is derived through consulting and support of their products. It’s a different business model than most of us are familiar with, but it does work - and it works well.

What can free software do for your medical practice? A quick search on Source Forge under the Medical Sciences Applications yields over 500 results, ranging from molecular dynamics simulators and chemistry development tools to full featured hospital Continue Reading »

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Gartner Web Development is pleased to announce the addition of rackIT @ GWD. Our latest addition to the GWD Network, providing content that is geared specifically toward IT Professionals. Technical content from this site (Gartner Web Development, LLC) is being relocated there to keep this site relevant to Small Business owners and managers, however, the technical content will remain on this site for the time being as well. Check it out today at rackit.gartnerwebdev.com - More content. Less noise.

Ask most people how to mitigate the security risks involved in connecting their computer to the internet, and they’ll usually suggest anti-virus software with current virus pattern updates and firewall protection. While these two things are an absolute must for all systems on your company network, and single systems connected to the internet, alike, there are other “attack vectors” that are often overlooked. First, let’s take a look at exactly what it is that we are securing by loosely defining the expectations of most businesses regarding computer resources.

What do you expect?

As a small business, we expect several things from our computers and computer networks. This is by no means a comprehensive list - just the basics:

• Increased employee productivity through data organization, centralizing documents, shared printers, etc. while facilitating the ability to work more efficiently as a team.
• Internet access for email, vendor and support web sites, research, and maybe a little surfing during one of those working lunches
• Protection of financial data, trade secrets, confidential employee data, customer data, etc.
• Verifiable regular backup of this valuable data
• Reliability and ease of use - we want it to work.

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