Friday, August 19, 2005
Cost of project management client software
For several years I've been able to augment my income teaching night classes. Old Dominion University put me to work teaching IT Project Management. It made sense. It was what I had been doing for more than a dozen years. My early project management memories included learning about PERT, Gantt, and critical paths during the overhaul of the USS Barb, a fast attack nuclear submarine, in Mare Island Naval Shipyard in the mid-70's. Ten years later, I worked as a contractor and saved Dillingham shipyard tons of money by doing project scheduling for the USS Brunswick overhaul with Visi-Schedule.
Microsoft Project is what most people think of when they think of project management desktop software. However, during my last class I suggested that students gain some experience with MS Project and learned that it is not priced at about $850. I was floored. That would not work for professionals trying to gain new skills and support a family at the same time.
With a little research, I found a couple of alternatives.
1) Open Workbench http://www.openworkbench.org/
2) Red Hat Linux
Both of these products are free or nearly so. Yes, when you install Red Hat Linux, it comes with a graphics-based project management tool. Open Workbench is a product that one place I worked preferred to MS Project, but that was in 1986.
Microsoft Project is what most people think of when they think of project management desktop software. However, during my last class I suggested that students gain some experience with MS Project and learned that it is not priced at about $850. I was floored. That would not work for professionals trying to gain new skills and support a family at the same time.
With a little research, I found a couple of alternatives.
1) Open Workbench http://www.openworkbench.org/
2) Red Hat Linux
Both of these products are free or nearly so. Yes, when you install Red Hat Linux, it comes with a graphics-based project management tool. Open Workbench is a product that one place I worked preferred to MS Project, but that was in 1986.
