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Software Recommendations Links

We recommend or use products from the companies listed here.

• Accounting
• Intuit - Intuit produces two excellent accounting applications for personal and small business finance: Quicken and Quickbooks.
• Databases
• Microsoft - Microsoft produces SQL Server which is often required for many corporate applications.
• MySQL - The most popular open source database engine is now available on Linux, Windows, and NetWare.
• Oracle - Oracle is an extremely robust, fast, and popular relational database for building applications upon. It's not inexpensive, but the best rarely is.
• PostgreSQL - PostgreSQL is another open source database engine which runs on Linux. It boasts full ACID compliance.
• Firewall/Security
• Firewall Builder - Firewall Builder is a Linux-based GUI to help design firewall scripts. We frequently use fwbuilder to create firewalls based on Linux's built-in netfilter/iptables.
• IPCop - IPCop is a Linux distribution that can turn obsolete hardware into a reliable firewall with an easy-to-use interface. Though it does have some limitations, IPCop is sufficient for most organizations.
• pfSense - pfSense turns a PC into a firewall. Based on FreeBSD, it's not as user-friendly as IPCop, but boasts advanced features.
• WatchGuard - WatchGuard has a full-line of firewall appliances to fit any size organization.
• Groupware
• Microsoft Exchange - Microsoft develops Exchange and Outlook to fill the groupware niche. Recent versions of this product have been much more stable than in the past, so we have been recommending it for most new groupware installs. Being the most popular groupware solution, it also has a large number of 3rd-party plugins available.
• Novell Groupwise - Novell Groupwise is an excellent groupware solution for email, calendaring, and document management.
• Internet Server Utilities
• Apache Web Server - The Apache Project produces the world's most popular web server and is the one we most often recommend.
• Maia Mailguard - Maia Mailguard is a very robust suite of mail tools that have been nicely integrated into an easy-to-use web interface. Maia will scan e-mail for spam and viruses, and provide end-users with the tools they need to maintain their own mail. Setting up Maia takes a long time and can be frustrating, but the end-result is worth the headaches.
• VNC - VNC gives the ability to remotely control both Windows and Unix desktops over the Internet.
• Office Suites
• Corel - Corel develops the Wordperfect Office Suite which is a popular alternative to Microsoft Office.
• Microsoft - For an office suite, Microsoft Office is among the most popular and capable available.
• OpenOffice.org - OpenOffice is a GPL (free!) office suite featuring a word processor (Write), a spreadsheet (Calc), a presentation package (Impress), and a drawing tool (Draw). It boasts near-complete compatibility with its Microsoft equivalents.