APuRL Tech

Benefits of open source software are plenty despite what many critics say against it. First of all, when you say open source, this is software created for the benefits of everybody. The boon it is free! To understand more the benefits of open source, it is best to do a comparison first with commercial software. For commercial software, what are more focused on are the features and those that users can see. An open source however still does well with the features but does better with the organizational factors and their quality.

With commercial software, you are guaranteed with good visual capabilities. This is because marketing is given more emphasis by the software’s development. The factors that are centered on by open source include those not readily apparent. One of these factors is reliability. If there are any defects or bugs in the software, these are addressed speedily and corrected efficiently. The end product of an open source would then be more dependable to function well.

Another factor among the list of benefits of open source software is stability. Working software is not something that would get old. So, software vendors, in order to keep their profits coming, employ tactics that would force customers to buy new software. Such tactics include ‘upgrades’ or withdrawal of support. With open source, consumers need not be forced to get the upgrades. Since open sources are published for all to see, those concerned can really see if the software is what it claims. Open source then is more auditable than commercial ones.

Aside from these, open sources has also more freedom and flexibility compared to commercial ones, which users are forced to trust it as it is. There are also a lot of accountability and support for open sources. These are the benefits of open source software!

You may have heard the term “open source” relating to free software but is more than this as there is a standard associated in the development and distribution of such software. Open source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers may see fit.  Even though the user is given access  to the source code of  the software, there are guidelines that parties involved should comply with:

• free redistribution  with no restrictions for selling or giving away  the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources and the license cannot require a royalty or any other fee
• program must include source code and allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form
• the license must allow modifications and derived works, to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software
• license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of “patch files” with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time
• no discrimination of persons or groups
• no discrimination of fields of endeavor, for example, may not restrict the program from being used in a business or for genetic research
• the rights to the program should not require the need for execution of an additional license by the parties redistributing
• license must not be specific to a product meaning rights attached to the program must not depend on the program being part of a particular software distribution
• license must not restrict other software, that means no restriction on sofware that is distributed with the licensed software
• license must be technology-neutral, therefore no provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface

Open source has benefits for the business world as can bring substantial cost savings when having access and right to the source code. And doesn’t seem open source is going away anytime soon since it has been referred to as the software that runs the internet from Apache web server to the Mozilla web browser, and from the Linux operating system to the invisible inner workings of the internet