Using locally published software is one of the most controversial questions that a business must face. Do you go with something that is large scale, with thousands or even millions of users, or do you get software that is customized to your needs, and made by a local consultant or small time publishing company. In both cases, there are many positives and negatives, and the decision must be made on a case-to-case basis. The first question that a company faced with this decision must consider is that of software integrity. No matter what else can be said, a large scale piece of software will have fewer bugs than any local business software. Anything used by thousands or millions of people will have more eyes analyzing it, and they will catch the better part of the bugs that plague every piece of software. There is no question about it. That is the case. The only exception to this is that customized local business software, made by a smaller firm, will have people working more closely with each other. Therefore, there will probably be fewer compatibility issues with different sections of the local business software. But still, with millions of eyes, any compatibility issues will probably be caught. The next question is one of security. This is business software, and probably something that is critical to the operation of your company. And with software, you never know what could happen. Do you trust the company who is writing the local business software for your business? If not, dont use them. It would take next to no effort to put a backdoor program in that could completely ruin your computers or send them all of your mission critical business information. Thats not something that you want to worry about. A larger company could do this as well, but probably wouldn't, as with so many users, somebody would have found out about the virus or trojan that is attached to the software.
