Open Source
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[edit] What is Open Source?
Open Source refers to a way of distributing software. Unlike the products of commercial software companies, Open Source software is freely given away--not only the programs, but also the instructions for the programs. What this means is that anybody with sufficient skill can change, customize, update, or fix the software without needing to pay a licensing fee or obtaining special permission from the original vendor.
While this may seem like a small thing, its impact on the software industry is enormous. Software is fast becoming a commodity with a marginal cost of zero. That means to stay alive, software companies need to offer more to their customers than just software.
Things like good service, and support. Suddenly, control has been placed in consumers hands--if you're not getting satisfactory support from your software vendor, you can fire them and find another.
[edit] Examples of Open Source Software
The poster child for Open Source is Linux. Everybody has heard of Linux. In many parts of the world, few have actually used it. There are plenty of ongoing debates about its cost effectiveness, but these are mostly all FUD spread by commercial software companies. We do what we can to debunk this FUD here. In spite of its visibility, Linux is not (yet) the most successful Open Source software.
There are several contenders for that title:
- Apache. Apache is the web server software that powers more web sites than all other servers combined. Netcraft publishes a monthly survey that shows more than 67% of all web sites use Apache.
- Sendmail. Sendmail is a core program that distributes email across the Internet, at one point accounting for 90% of all email servers. At this time, it's hard to gauge what percentage of email traffic Sendmail handles, but three other popular open source mail servers have arisen to fill any decline in Sendmail use.
- BIND. BIND, the Berkeley Internet Name Daemon, is the dominant program that converts Internet names such as opensourceproviders.com to an IP address so that your computer can find a web site or send an email. The 13 root name servers in the world all use BIND.
You can't use the Internet without using Open Source!
[edit] Open Source in Your Business
Open Source software is known for:
- high quality
- stability
- security
- interoperability
So why doesn't everybody use it? Here are some often stated reasons:
- Specific necessary software isn't mature
- Perceived lack of polish of user interfaces
- Perceived difficulty obtaining support
- Perceived to be hard to use
Let's take a closer look at these reasons.
- Specific necessary software isn't mature. This situation is quickly changing as more businesses and developers discover open source. Right now there is fantastic Open Source software available for most core business functions. Specialized software, such as bidding/estimation tools for contractors, may not be as developed in open source as it is in commercial software.
- Perceived lack of polish. Open Source Software is generally written by its users. That means most of its users have been developers, who tend to overlook polish in an interface, and perhaps ignore usability quirks a more general audience might find off-putting. As projects mature, this limitation has been going away. Mozilla Firefox and SugarCRM are two great examples of well-polished interfaces for Open Source Software.
- Perceived difficulty obtaining support. That's the purpose of this site--to connect you to people who can help you out! There is no lack of support for Open Source--if anything, it's better, faster, and cheaper. But it can be difficult to know where to go. Businesses listed on this site, especially those listed under specific software packages, know where to go to get the answers you need to get your job done.
- Perceived to be hard to use. In most cases, this is a result of developers taking some bit of knowledge for granted. Many Open Source projects are re-evaluating their interfaces to eliminate the need for this hidden knowledge. Providers in this site can provide you with this knowledge--look for firms specializing in training.
[edit] More resources
- Open Source definition at Wikipedia
- Mozilla, developers of Firefox
