The Open Source model is a different one, standing for
different values than its commercial counterparts. Open source is a great idea
because it allows for the source code to be available to the general public for
any reason, including copying, modifying, and redistributing it. It has
increased transparency of code for many purposes including research. Open
Source software has brought us some great names in software, including 7-zip, Firefox,
Chrome, and OpenOffice.org. It has also brought us some great Operating
Systems, such as GNU/Linux and Android.
There are many advantages to Open Source software model. The
first is that there are a very low amount of licensing fees. It is easy to
manage. It allows for continuous improvement. It allows companies to be independent.
It allows people to view and analyze and learn from the source code.
However, whatever goes up must come down. There are a few
notable downsides to the open source software model that deserve to be talked
about. One is that it usually always involves unanticipated implementation and
support costs. It has a large learning curve. You can’t just sit down tone day
and analyze OpenOffice.org source code and fully understand it, it takes a long
time to get your staff up to speed. Version control – lack of potential
documentation may lead to version control issues which will inevitably later
lead to compatibility issues on proprietary platforms. Many project leaders up
and leave leaving nobody left to complete or maintain the software. There is
also nobody to answer your technical questions if you have any because no open
source software has a good tech support program.
So, as you can see, it’s not all a walk in the park for open
source software, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Img courtesy: voipfreak.net
Hey Brian !
ReplyDeleteGood work writing the blog post. I like how you cover all the sides of the argument and manage to give a balanced read about the pros and cons of Open source software. The pros that you mention are very convincing ones. Cost in particular can be a big factor in the developing countries of the world. I especially liked the way that the blog post progress smoothly from introduction to pros and then on to cons.
All right Brian, pretty good.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, you list popular open-source products, like Open Office and Google Chrome, a web browser that I now regularly use, even though I had used Internet Explorer and then Firefox for the longest time. Your post is also two-sided, explaining both the good and poor aspects of open source. Unless the proprietary software is prohibitively expensive, I tend to use it instead of open source, simply because of less technical support. You also properly attribute your image, which a lot of people here tend to overlook.
I would suggest to make the post a little longer, but still, it’s good.