

Review of Project Management Tools for Startups - bigtoga
http://www.learnsqlserver.com/Blogs/SqlServerBlog/2007/08/review-of-project-management-tools-for.html
Recently here at LearnItFirst.com due to our growth, I had to decide on a few things: (1) project management software, (2) help desk software, and (3) knowledge base management software. I wanted to post my notes/thoughts on the project management software here so that it can hopefully save someone else some time in the future.
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gscott
Listing officezilla.com being free as a "Deal Killer" is too bad. It would
have been nice if he would have at least gave it a try. Sure it is not a pure
project management system but because it is not there are some advantages
since it can do more then projects. If you spread your information out between
various different systems you will find yourself with a whole lot of logins
and urls to remember.

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bigtoga
As I wrote in the post though, I just don't feel comfortable going with a
totally free system - I don't like the idea frankly. I love free - don't get
me wrong - but I don't always prefer free and this is just one of those times.
Can they promise me that my employees aren't going to see ads on the
officezilla site soon? No. Do I feel as though my data/info is as secure with
a free system as I feel with a paid-for system? No. Do I think Zoho Projects
will still be around 5 years from now? Yes (in some form). OfficeZilla? No
clue.

That's pretty much my way of thinking - and it's okay to disagree with me.
Every single company that I said I didn't choose based on the "Deal Killer"
could write in and say, "he could have at least given it a try" but the truth
is that I have to work lol. I don't have six days to review every possible PM
software package under $500 for two years for 5 users. I picked 6-8 good ones,
ran them through what I wanted, and that's that. In the end it's just the
mindset that something I pay for is more secure, better, and will grow more
with my company than something I got for free. Right or wrong, it's just my
way of thinking for this particular "quest."

| If you spread your information out between various different systems you
will find yourself with a whole lot of logins and urls to remember.

That's a downside to be sure but honestly - on a budget, what software package
out there does PM, help desk software, and website management? None. Zero.
Okay - what software does PM + help desk on a budget? None. Zero. I suppose I
could write my own but then what's the point when I can spend $10 a month and
just remember a few urls/logins? As we grow it will be a challenge though to
manage/migrate - but that's for another day :)

