Which software program do you recommend for a small business?

Question

Commercial, shareware, freeware, open source or whatever. For invoicing, inventory, etc.

Answer 1

If your in india the go for a software with Windows xp with office 2003 and Tally for accounting applications.

Answer 2

Without a doubt, the MS Office package. Today, 3/29/07, Office 2000 can be purchased for $65.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_sw/103-3747432-9336617?url=search-alias%3Dsoftware&field-keywords=office+2000

Office 2003, a bit more
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-3747432-9336617?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Office+2003

Be sure to buy the CD with product key to ensure your entitlement to upgrades and fixes.

Free, and supposed to be compatible with Office products, is openoffice.
OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a collection of different applications that work together closely to provide the features expected from a modern office suite. Many of the components are designed to mirror those available in Microsoft Office. The components available include:
Writer — a word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word and offering a comparable range of functions and tools. It also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages. One important difference between Writer and Microsoft Word is that in Writer, many functions and number formats from Calc (below) are available in Writer's tables. Another difference is that in Writer, automatic save is off by default.
Calc — a spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel, including a system which automatically defines series for graphing, based on the layout of the user's data. Calc is also capable of writing spreadsheets directly as a PDF file.
Impress — a presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It can export presentations to Adobe Flash (SWF) files allowing them to be played on any computer with the Flash player installed. It also includes the ability to create PDF files. Impress suffers from a lack of ready-made presentation designs. However, templates are readily available on the Internet.[6]
Base — a database program similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases, and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base is able to work as a front-end to a number of different database systems, including Access databases