Open Sourcing
Wikipedia says “open source as a philosophy promotes a) universal access via free license to a product’s design or blueprint, and b) universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.” There is a need for greater promotion of the use of open source software for information and communication technology. There are a wide variety of offerings in the market that claim to be open source. When companies can’t compete with huge, crushing competitors, they route around it and find another way to reduce costs and compete.
The open source initiative has not stopped at productivity tools. Perhaps one of the best examples is the Linux operating system. The Linux operating system, which burst on the scene in 1991, led the first big wave of open-source software. The program, developed and maintained by thousands of volunteers, already represents a $4.2 billion slice of the $49 billion server market, and is set to grow at least 15% a year for the next five years. This concept is now appearing in all sorts of market areas, including other system software areas. The premise of open source software sounded like a techno-hippie dream when the Free Software movement kicked off in the 1980s.
Open source has spread to other disciplines, from the hard sciences to the liberal arts. Biologists have embraced open source methods in genomics and informatics, building massive databases to genetically sequence E. coli, yeast, and other workhorses of lab research.
Why open sourcing is good?
1. Security
Most high level security can be generated by finding bugs, various programmers and developers can test the products on own strategies, so high level of security can be achieved.
2. Quality
Open source software gets closest to what users want because those users can have a hand in making it so. As previously stated thousands of programmers and developers test the product to achieve high quality and to meet the needs of the market.
3. Stabilizability
As we know code is open, it’s simply a matter of modifying it to add the functionality that developers want.
4. Freedom
When businesses turn to open source software, they free themselves from the severe vendor lock-in that can afflict users of proprietary packages. Users are in control to make their own decisions and to do what they want with the software.
5. Flexibility
Open sourcing increases the flexibility of the product.
6. Interoperability
If you value interoperability with other businesses, computers and users, and don’t want to be limited by proprietary data formats, open sourcing is best way.
7. Cost
Highest quality product can be generated within low development costs.
Goals of open sourcing:
- Create something useful for the world.
- Continue to develop the code for the foreseeable future.
- Accept contributions of outside developers.
The Open Source Initiative approves open source licenses after they have successfully gone through the approval process. Some of the advantages of open sourcing are: High quality of software, lesser hardware cost, no vender lock-in, Integrated & simple license management and abundant support. The researchers also refute the argument that using Open Source Software (OSS) is inherently riskier because one automatically becomes liable for any failings of the software.
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