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Open Source
An exceedingly mature and
cost effective alternative to pure proprietary solutions.
Even corporations that are committed to proprietary
solutions have extensive amounts of open source in-house.
See how open-source is reducing costs and speeding
time-to-market.
Openware Technology
Open Source Expertise
We've created
this paper because we know a lot of people out there have
questions, and quite frankly, concerns about open source
software. Sometimes the large corporate software companies
of the world have filled our heads with fear, uncertainty
and doubt. Possibly you’ve had bad experiences with open
source software. And sometimes, you’d rather go with a name
like IBM, Sun Microsystems or HP.
What is open source?
Many people
have never heard the term "open source" before, and if they
have, they may not know what it means. Simply put, it
usually means that the software is free, can be distributed
and can be altered.
There are
many types of licenses that can be attached to software
packages. The following is a table that represents your
typical rights under common licenses.
|
|
Proprietary |
Shareware |
Freeware |
Free
Binary |
Open
Source |
|
# of
machines |
1 per
license |
1 per
license |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
|
Free
Trial |
Sometimes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Warranty |
Typically No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Free to
Distribute |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Free to
Alter |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
Free
Community Support |
Sometimes |
No |
No |
Sometimes |
Sometimes |
|
Commercial Support |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Sometimes |
For more
information visit
opensource.org.
Why should I?
The following
is a list of reasons why choosing open source can be a smart
business decision.
Cost Savings
The number one
business reason for going with a piece of free software is
cost savings. Sure there are support fees with many open
source packages, but there are also support fees that go
with many commercial software packages as well. In fact, if
you're paying for the software, shouldn't support be free?
In the open source world, you only pay if you can't support
the software yourself. And even then, it's typically less
than the support fees of one of the commercial giants.
Responsive Community Support
In many cases,
open source projects have great community support. This
means that if you need a question answered, you can get
great help from the others that are using the product. In
most cases, you'll get an answer from the community before
you'd even get a warm body from a typical help line.
Better Software
Though some
open source software is lacking on features, nearly all open
source software shares one property: robustness. Because the
source code is available for all to see, many bugs and
security holes are found, reported and fixed in near real
time. This means that the software is typically very stable
and very secure. Most IT managers agree that some of the
widely used commercial products are feature rich, but leave
much to be desired on the robustness and security scales.
Strategic
Options
On occasion,
especially in rough economic conditions, companies are
acquired or go out of business. No one likes to see that
happen, but it's a fact of life. If a software vendor goes
out of business, it can mean a huge mess for an IT
department to deal with. Free software/Open Source companies
are just as vulnerable during economic duress as
none-free/closed source providers, but their software is
not. Should an open source provider go out of business two
things can and do happen: 1) The open source community
continues the development of the product even after the
demise of the company. 2) If all else fails, an IT staff can
continue to support the software themselves or with the help
of consultants, because they have the source code.
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