Big companies need big software, and big software costs big money. If you're a little guy, however, big, complex software is anything but a competitive advantage.

Never mind the price tag. Big-company basics, like collaboration and workflow software, can be a nightmare to install and maintain if they're not backed up by a big company's trained crew of information technology professionals.

And, of course, if you choose not to pay for such software and pirate it instead, outfits like the Microsoft-backed Business Software Alliance will turn your former employees into tipsters, audit your software use and sue you. Fun.

Luckily, the open-source and Web-based alternatives are cheaper and, more importantly, more convenient for small businesses.

Start with Microsoft Office: The full version of Microsoft Office Small Business costs $314.95 on Amazon.com, marked down from the $449.95 list price.

It's good software. More importantly, it's widely used, so most office workers are familiar with it.

The problem is most businesses will never make full use of all Microsoft Office's capabilities. Even many professional writers rarely, if ever, use Microsoft Word's most sophisticated features.

And you could make a case that Microsoft Office's PowerPoint presentation software has too much power--power that is abused by artless employees who use it to craft bloated, incomprehensible presentations.

Luckily for you, Google Docs is now powerful enough to serve as an acceptable free online alternative.

And while Google Docs online spreadsheet and word processing software is stripped down (when compared with Office), it does make it easier for workers to share a single online document and collaborate on it with colleagues--something that gets complicated fast when multiple copies of a Microsoft Word document are blasting around the office.

Better still, the software is hosted by Google, so you don't have to worry about installing or maintaining the programs.

Open-source software offers another alternative. Open-source operating systems such as Linux can do some pretty big jobs. If you're not ready to leave the familiar environment of Microsoft Windows, however, there is plenty of open-source software that can help you save money--and keep you on the right side of the software police.

The best example could be the open-source OpenOffice.org productivity suite. The latest version of the software is quick, easy-to-use and more compatible with Microsoft's offerings than ever. If you know how to use Microsoft Office, it's easy to pick up.

The same can't be said for alternatives to pricey business e-mail and calendaring software.

While open-source e-mail and calendaring software, such as Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail software and the Lightning calendaring plug in, is good stuff, it's not easy for a small office to set up messaging software of any kind without a bit of professional help, unless you're an office full of techies.

However, if you do hire one of the tens of thousands of small-time IT services shops that cater to small businesses, ask them about using open-source alternatives to Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes. It can save you a bit of money--and a lot of licensing hassles-- down the road.

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