Open Source Headaches

[comcorp]

Is Sugar Open Source really worth it?

Our company has spent endless hours trying to customize, upgrade and find the solutions to the problems posed by Sugar Open Source. We think in the end, it would have been better just to purchase Sugar Professional or Enterprise or even go to another CRM software like Netsuite.

The support to Sugar Open Source via forum is quite poor as it takes forever for people to respond or no real solution is presented on these forums.

We think Sugar Community is a great idea and we are all for open source software, but in the end --- we are trying to run a business. Can software idealism really work in a realist business world?

Please let us know your thoughts on this.

Best regards,

ComCorp, Inc.

[Angel]

Is Sugar Open Source really worth it?

Our company has spent endless hours trying to customize, upgrade and find the solutions to the problems posed by Sugar Open Source. We think in the end, it would have been better just to purchase Sugar Professional or Enterprise or even go to another CRM software like Netsuite.

Your example is a classic case that I've seen over and over throughout the years. That case being one where there is an erroneous assumption that open source software is cheaper and/or is less problem prone than closed source commercial solutions.

The only way in which open source is sure to save you money is on licensing costs. Everything else is a myth in my opinion. Just because you are using open source software doesn't mean you don't need any professional services for implementation, training, customization, etc. I've never understood why people have a tendency to think otherwise.

As a previous colleague of mine used to state "open source is free, only if you don't value your time." Seems like a fitting description for your scenario, doesn't it?

Anyway, the point is, unless you are an expert at the software already, a proper implementation of systems such as Sugar, NetSuite, Siebel, etc. requires professional services, regardless of whether the solution is closed or open source.

The support to Sugar Open Source via forum is quite poor as it takes forever for people to respond or no real solution is presented on these forums.

I can only speak for myself, but given the fact that the vast majority of the posters providing that "poor" service are volunteers, your commentary certainly doesn't motivate me to go out of my way to help you find a solution for FREE.

If your matter is that pressing, pay someone to fix it for you, either Sugar themselves or one of their various partners.