Open source software is software in which the source code used to
create the program is freely available for the public to view, edit, and
redistribute. Any type of software program can be open source,
including operating systems, databases, applications, games, and even
programming languages.
Advantages of using open source:
When
something is referred to as “open source”, it means that people can
modify and share the code because its design is publicly accessible.
Anybody can modify the code to suit their own needs. Open source
technology has been around for quite some time now. In the early days of
software development, code was shared among developers so they could
learn from each other and advance the sector. Here are some fundamental
advantages I believe open source offers over proprietary solutions:
FLEXIBILITY AND AGILITY
IT leaders must fundamentally provide flexibility and agility for their enterprise. If you can’t compete on agility, you’re going to get left behind by the competition. Open source enables technology agility, typically offering multiple ways to solve problems. Open source helps keep your IT organization from getting blocked because a particular capability isn’t available from a vendor. Instead of waiting for the vendor to deliver that capability, you can create it yourself.
COST-EFFECTIVENESS
Open source is
generally much more cost-effective than a proprietary solution. Not only
are open source solutions typically much more inexpensive in an
enterprise environment for equivalent or superior capability, but they
also give enterprises the ability to start small and scale. Given that
enterprises are often budget challenged, it just makes financial sense
to explore open source solutions.
SOLID INFORMATION SECURITY
Commercial
open source has a solid information security record in a dangerous
world. Obviously, it’s difficult to claim security superiority for any
solution and it’s a challenging environment for all of us, but the
responsiveness of the open source community and vendors relative to
information security problems has been very good. The fact that we’ve
had eyes on code that in some cases is decades old, and we were able to
identify and fix problems when they became apparent, rather than have
the code molder in a proprietary environment where few knew about the
exposure but some were exploiting it, is an advantage of open source.
SHARE MAINTENANCE COSTS
You
can solve your enterprise problems while effectively sharing some of
the maintenance costs. One of the fundamental advantages of open source
is community involvement. Rather than writing an application and having
to sustain it yourself, you can share the cost of maintaining and
sustaining applications among multiple parties.
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