The Advantages of Open Source Software
As fantastic as it appears, there are infact companies and foundations out there that actively build and distribute software for no cost. The reason for them doing this is varied, but the benefits to the consumers is huge.
Way back in the 70’s, computer geeks and nerds would create software and syndicate it to others for free to try and make it better. That was until a man called Bill Gates who saw a business opportunity in building software for computers and designed Altair BASIC. Rather alarmingly for him, his software was also pirated around and he ended up writing a long letter detailing why software should not be free (try Googling Bill Gates Open Letter).
In the past few years, the open source community has been gaining a significant slice in the software market, possibly caused by developing nations who can’t afford the licensing fees of commercial software like Windows, Word, Dreamweaver and even Programming Languages.
There are free versions of just about everything, from e-commerce solutions to computer applications. The open source concept has even hit the food and drink market with open source recipes for wine and beer now available on the Internet. I am even writing this brief article on a piece of open source software called Open Office, a free substitute to MS Word, and it’s powered by Ubuntu, an open source substitute to Windows or Mac OS X.
When it comes to websites, there is a whole load of free around to run any kind of site. Web development companies such as Wordpress and Wikimedia Foundation release scripts free for anyone to use. What makes it very enticing is that open source customization can be undertaken by a huge number of companies around the Earth.
Using open source software for your website sets up a awesome base from which to commence, eg Wordpress is fantastic for virtually any sort of site, but with a bit of Wordpress customization you can have it meet your exact needs for a fraction of the cost of coding it from fom the start.
Before you purchase your next software, always look to see if there is an open source option available. Especially during these hard times, open source software could be one way you or your organization can lower its costs.