Open source software today has been known to be growing in popularity. Software such as Firefox, Linux, GIMP, and the GNU Project has been success stories of open source. Websites such as Github.com have been pushing the Open Source initiative. Open source in short is defined as software that has Free Redistribution, Access to its source code (The code that makes up the software), and allows access to everyone. Under these guidelines, it allows everyone to contribute to the software adding their own features & customization, fixing bugs, etc. With open source having all its advantages, open source is a better way to distribute software rather than using a closed source method of holding the source code. The actual definition of the Open Source
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First and probably the biggest advantage of Open Source is its security. When someone releases their source code, it is usually a version control site such as GitHub. GitHub, and sites like it, without getting too technical, is basically an all in one place for source code. It has version control, issue tracker, and a lot features that in short allows people to copy the source code, modify it, and send it back to the original repository (repository being the place where the original source code was). What open source does is it allows everyone to work with it, find bugs and fix them, including security bugs. Having a closed source project would not allow people to look through the code and look for issues. What’s nice about GitHub is that it promotes the finding of security bugs, and there are even bounties put in place where if developers find security bugs, depending on what they find and the magnitude of the bug they can be paid actual money from $200 to $10,000. This definitely increases the motivation of developers to go out and look for these …show more content…
Open source projects have quality. It’s quite simple, with open source projects, thousands of developers look through the code and add to it while with closed source projects, only a few developers work on it. Next is its ability to be customized. Many companies will take an open source project and modify it too their needs. This is what open source is all about. Closed source; however, cannot be modified and if a company was modifications, there at the hands of the developers of the software. Also, there is lots of freedom with open source projects. Open source projects allow people to do almost whatever they want with it. Lastly, and to some people the biggest advantage to open source software is its cost, free. With some software for major corporations, to purchase software may require them the purchase a license for every computer they have which could definitely add up. With open source, one can use it on as many computers as they like with absolutely no charge at all. Also, open source projects give you the “try before you buy” opportunity. This allows people to see if the software will actually work for them. With open source having all its advantages, it definitely motivates companies to use open source projects over closed source
First and probably the biggest advantage of Open Source is its security. When someone releases their source code, it is usually a version control site such as GitHub. GitHub, and sites like it, without getting too technical, is basically an all in one place for source code. It has version control, issue tracker, and a lot features that in short allows people to copy the source code, modify it, and send it back to the original repository (repository being the place where the original source code was). What open source does is it allows everyone to work with it, find bugs and fix them, including security bugs. Having a closed source project would not allow people to look through the code and look for issues. What’s nice about GitHub is that it promotes the finding of security bugs, and there are even bounties put in place where if developers find security bugs, depending on what they find and the magnitude of the bug they can be paid actual money from $200 to $10,000. This definitely increases the motivation of developers to go out and look for these …show more content…
Open source projects have quality. It’s quite simple, with open source projects, thousands of developers look through the code and add to it while with closed source projects, only a few developers work on it. Next is its ability to be customized. Many companies will take an open source project and modify it too their needs. This is what open source is all about. Closed source; however, cannot be modified and if a company was modifications, there at the hands of the developers of the software. Also, there is lots of freedom with open source projects. Open source projects allow people to do almost whatever they want with it. Lastly, and to some people the biggest advantage to open source software is its cost, free. With some software for major corporations, to purchase software may require them the purchase a license for every computer they have which could definitely add up. With open source, one can use it on as many computers as they like with absolutely no charge at all. Also, open source projects give you the “try before you buy” opportunity. This allows people to see if the software will actually work for them. With open source having all its advantages, it definitely motivates companies to use open source projects over closed source