Open Source Instead of Proprietary: We Evaluate the Alternatives for You

Moving away from proprietary closed-source software — but how? Which open-source solutions can genuinely replace established products from well-known vendors? What criteria should guide the choice? And what do these alternatives actually deliver in the daily work of an SME, a law firm, or a public administration?

Questions upon questions, and we're looking into them for you. In a series of articles, we'll present open-source software we have evaluated ourselves and run in production — each with a clear assessment of why we selected it and who it suits.

Why we're doing this

The question of vendor dependency has gained considerable weight over the past months. Tariffs, export controls, and shifting political conditions show how quickly the ground can move beneath Swiss customers who have no influence over it. Knowing today which alternatives exist and what they deliver means you can decide on solid grounds at the next purchase or contract renewal — instead of sticking with the familiar option under time pressure.

How we assess

Every evaluation follows the same criteria, so the articles remain comparable with one another:

• Functional coverage compared to the proprietary counterpart
• Project maturity: release cycle, security policy, size and continuity of the community
• Licence model and commercial context (genuine open source or open core)
• Operational effort: installation, updates, backup, monitoring
• Availability of professional support in Switzerland or the EU
• Migration path: data import, open formats, exit capability
• Integration into existing environments (directory services, SSO, interfaces)

What we'll be covering

We're starting with the classic productivity services — the areas where nearly every organisation runs proprietary software today:

• Email and groupware
• Password management
• Authentication and identity management
• Collaboration platforms and file exchange
• Chat and video conferencing
• Telephony
• Document editing

Pragmatic, not ideological

Not every open-source solution is automatically the better choice, and not every piece of software needs replacing. Where an alternative doesn't hold up against the requirements, we'll say so just as plainly as when it does. What matters is knowing where action is needed — and where it isn't.

Already have something specific in mind?

If you have a particular solution in view, or a replacement pending for an existing problem, let us know. We're happy to add your suggestion to the series or look at your situation directly. We're here for you. Fast. Agile. Reliable.