What is Open Source?
Much of the software created in today’s world is created by a company who then has total control over modifying, distributing, monetizing, and granting rights for it. This means that users who purchase the software cannot modify it, share it, and may not actually own it. On the other hand, Open Source software has its code available on the internet for anyone to inspect, copy, modify, and distribute. This makes it cheaper than closed source software, more secure, free to control or “libre”, and very flexible. There are many open source information systems, but the question is, should you choose them?
Benefits of Open Source Software
The main benefits of open source software are its freedom, quality, security, and flexibility. Being free doesn’t just mean the software does not cost money to use, …show more content…
Closed source software does not allow you freely distribute it and prevents you from modifying it. Open source software can be used freely distributed and changed. Being able to tweak software for a business’s needs is very important, and is much cheaper than building a completely new information system just because another does not have a few features you need. Possibly even more importantly, open source software is often high quality as well. In a survey done by Accenture of 300 large organizations, 76% of the corporations cited the quality of Open Source software as its key feature. The software is developed by the users and therefore caters to what the users want, and not what a company thinks the users want. The fact that many people are working on the software not only allows bugs to be quickly sought out and destroyed, but
Much of the software created in today’s world is created by a company who then has total control over modifying, distributing, monetizing, and granting rights for it. This means that users who purchase the software cannot modify it, share it, and may not actually own it. On the other hand, Open Source software has its code available on the internet for anyone to inspect, copy, modify, and distribute. This makes it cheaper than closed source software, more secure, free to control or “libre”, and very flexible. There are many open source information systems, but the question is, should you choose them?
Benefits of Open Source Software
The main benefits of open source software are its freedom, quality, security, and flexibility. Being free doesn’t just mean the software does not cost money to use, …show more content…
Closed source software does not allow you freely distribute it and prevents you from modifying it. Open source software can be used freely distributed and changed. Being able to tweak software for a business’s needs is very important, and is much cheaper than building a completely new information system just because another does not have a few features you need. Possibly even more importantly, open source software is often high quality as well. In a survey done by Accenture of 300 large organizations, 76% of the corporations cited the quality of Open Source software as its key feature. The software is developed by the users and therefore caters to what the users want, and not what a company thinks the users want. The fact that many people are working on the software not only allows bugs to be quickly sought out and destroyed, but