Open Source Software versus Commercially Available Software - Essay Example

Open Source Software vs. Commercially available software Information Technology has come a long way since the heydays of the computing machine as our forefathers knew them. With the development of faster sleeker and more sophisticated hardware, more and more people jumped onto the technology bandwagon to develop stronger more efficient soft wares to exploit the immense prowess of these machines. Information thus became an important input for business concerns rather than a mere by product to be saved on secondary storage devices. Information however, being of an intangible nature, posed a serious problem for its owners. It is easy to defend the right of ownership for information if it is to be kept for ones own usage. The problem arises when this intellectual property is actually the product which is to be sold to customers. As the IT era progressed, consumers became more demanding and capable. They demanded more liberty in terms of what they are told to use and what they can use themselves. This is probably what brought in the concept of Open source software. According to wikipedia (n.d.), “Open-source software is computer software whose source code is available under a copyright license that permits users to study, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form.” Alternatively, the American Bar Association (n.d.) defines Open Source as being “The term "open source" commonly refers to a software program or set of software technologies that are made widely available by an individual or group in source code form for use, modification and redistribution under a license agreement having very few restrictions.” Thus the definitions of Open Source are fairly consistent throughout. It is a model based on which soft wares are licensed to be made available royalty free to the user with rights to redistribute, modify and add with only a limited amount of restrictions as opposed to the commercial software model where the software is developed by a commercial entity which retains the source code (distributing it only in certain cases) and licenses the use of its product to users at a certain fee (Hiong, GOH, (n.d.), Business Software Alliance). The open source software movement traces its history to the formation of the Free Software Foundation ("FSF") in 1983. The FSF was formed with the goal of creating a free version of the UNIX operating system. The FSF released a series of programs in source code form under "GNU" name ("GNU" is an irreverent acronym that stands for Gnu’s Not Unix). The GNU project did not actually result in a free version of UNIX, but did result in the creation of some popular tools for UNIX programmers, including the GNU C compiler and text editor. It also set the stage for even more ambitious free software development projects in the 1990s. With the Internet’s rise in the 1990s, there has been renewed interest in free software and a shift in development resources from esoteric development tools to products and technologies having a broader commercial appeal. The origin of the term Open Source can be traced back to 1998 when a team of individuals formed the Open Source Initiative and proposed that the term free software be replaced by the term Open Source Software (OSS). This software would come with an open source license which would allow users to manipulate, modify and redistribute the software based on the degree of freedom allowed by the license. (wikipedia, n.d.) Open Source has since seen mass popularity among users especially those who are capable and hold the expertise to develop and modify such soft wares. Users agree that it allows them a lot of freedom and level of customization. Furthermore, informed users want to break free from the strong hold that huge software giants have over the IT industry. Better communication channels and fast internet access has allowed rapid knowledge sharing all over the globe thus assisting in the process and permitting experts from all over the world to contribute in the making of a software. (add and citation) More recently only has open source software started to enjoy a rise in popularity and usage. Users vary from individuals looking for more flexibility to firms seeking cost effectiveness and cheap customization. As free source forayed into domains like web development and transactional processing systems, more and more users have started showing a keen interest in trying these new technologies out. Free source software thus became not just a program that computer nerds could use and understand but entered into the mainstream and started competing with well established brands of the IT industry. This can be credited to firms that saw free source as an opportunity and seriously started developing and standardizing the large number of versions available in the market. Examples here would include Red Hat which provides consultation and its own version of LINUX. This sudden advent has even forced giants like Microsoft to give in and provide the source code of their soft wares (especially of Windows 2000) to their customers but with limited freedom in terms of redistribution options. The up and coming IT trend is of firms shifting towards enterprise wide open source solutions along with more and more users opting for LINUX or UNIX rather than Microsoft’s Windows family of Operating systems. Despite of the increased recent media exposure, the opens source movement is not limited to just Operating systems. It has expanded into almost all types of fields ranging from desktop publishing soft wares to website development tools. Wikipedia (n.d.) defines Eclipse as “a free software / open source platform-independent software framework for delivering what the project calls "rich-client applications", as opposed to "thin client" browser-based applications. So far this framework has typically been used to develop IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), such as the Java IDE called Java Development Toolkit (JDT) and compiler that comes as part of Eclipse (and which are also used to develop Eclipse itself). However, it can be used for other types of client application as well.” Thus eclipse is not a single software but a platform with various components one of which is used for developing websites. It was originally developed by IBM but is now managed by the Eclipse Foundation. As opposed to the Microsoft .NET framework where functionality is typically hard coded, Eclipse employs the use of plugins in order to provide all of its functionality on top of (and including) the rich client platform. This plugin mechanism is a lightweight software componentry framework. In addition to allowing Eclipse to be extended using other programming languages such as C and Python, the plugin framework allows Eclipse to work with typesetting languages like LaTeX, networking applications such as telnet and database management systems. This plugin architecture supports writing any desired extension to the environment. Eclipse is thus not limited in the use of languages or applications like Microsoft .NET is limited to only its suite of languages (C#, Visual C++ etc.). Microsoft .NET’s web development equivalent is ASP.NET (Active Server Pages). Like Eclipse, it is a is a set of web application development technologies marketed by Microsoft. Programmers can use it to build dynamic web sites, web applications and XML web services. It is part of Microsoft's .NET platform and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP). Programmers can write ASP.NET code using any of the different programming languages supported by the .NET Framework, usually C#, Visual Basic.NET, or JScript .NET, but also including open-source languages such as Perl and Python. Although it can be argued that Eclipse is too Java oriented, it is no dependent on a single platform like ASP.NET which is dependent on the Microsoft .NET infrastructure for functioning. Thus Eclipse works on a completely different model rather than the .NET framework ad is not dependent on a limited number of languages either. Furthermore it is free to redistribute and comes with all the benefits of open source software such as source code and modification. Businesses the world over are evolving into varied business models which include having an electronic presence on the World Wide Web. Since the rise of the dot com era, more and more businesses daily register domain names and web spaces to use as a viable means through which to reach out to customers. Not having an adequate IT structure spells doom for most firms nowadays. Firms in the past had two choices, either to go for an off the shelf software or fund the development of a customized software either internally or externally. Both alternatives are very expensive compared to its open source counterpart. Furthermore, modifications in an off the shelf software cost even more. Thus as open source software becomes better and more accessible through multiple platforms, more and more businesses are shifting. Open source software allows for huge amounts of cost cutting especially when it is to be used on multiple workstations on an enterprise wide scale. Acquiring repeat licenses for each workstation is very expensive. Maybe this is the main reason why businesses have been more keen on shifting over to open source technology rather than individual users (30% of businesses use open source technology as opposed to 96% of individual users who still use commercially available software for their personal computers) (AlphaGalileo, n.d.). A few drawbacks however do exist. The lack of expertise that exists for open source software is probably the largest one. Finding individuals with the right skill set to manage and develop open source software for a firm is tough. Lack of educational institutions conducting courses to facilitate learning about open source software further contributes to this. Secondly, cross architectural limitations and lack of soft wares for an open source platform might hinder a smooth transition. Thirdly, while the software itself is free, there are other elements that are not free. For instance, corporations must still pay for training and support for open-source products. But the cost is still less than using commercial software In terms of education, the advent of open source has left no choice for institutions but to train their students for dealing with the numerous soft wares available out there. Introductory courses on these new platforms and technologies have become a part of the routine curricula of universities and institutions the world over. Open source is the cutting edge of technology. Users all over the world contribute and learn from each others expertise through communication channels. It is like working on an IT project with the whole world as potential group members. These type of soft wares thus provide immense learning opportunities to everyone involved in them along with hands on experience on developing real software solutions. Open source software is seen by many as a threat to their established businesses. The very essence of such software is that it is available freely. This could cause a major price war among the already established giants and the new upcoming entrepreneurs that are currently venturing into this new market of developing and licensing free software for all. A paradigm shift is resulting due to these open source soft wares where a firms success is judged not according to their product offering and marketing expertise anymore. The age is of new developed software at the cutting edge and its success depends on the number of people that have contributed to it worldwide. Moreover, such software is more susceptible to errors and standardization problems due to the dynamic method of development it goes through. Commcercial software is developed using a tam of trained individuals in control environments with repeat testing. This ensures that quality standards are met before the product is delivered to the consumer. From a learning point of view, it is clear that todays consumer is well informed. With the vast amount of knowledge available online, almost everyone has the resources and tools to learn technologies and acquire skill sets to work as a programmer. Open source too in its true essence is not limited to just software but to everything that can be distributed freely with little intervention from the licensing party. A good example of non software open source would be MIT’s venture into providing all of its lectures and class content online. Proponents of open source software state that this is the future of the software industry. In the beginning, software pundits believed that if these softwares were licensed and sold, it would result in the downfall of the whole industry. But this didn’t happen. Corporations like Microsoft and Apple brought major innovations in the software industry like graphical user interfaces and multi-media and in doing so borught the computer to the masses. Knowledge of comuters and programming was no more limited to a handful of developers worldwide. This followed by ARPANET’s innovations in the telecommunications industry brought along the advent of the internet and many doors of opportunities opened for people worldwide. Although technology was well guarded by firms, maybe this was what was required at that time to properly nourish Informtaiton technology. Times now are changing. The learning curve for the software industry was huge indeed but now is the time to empower customers and allow them to choose more freely what they require and can get out of a software. Such software will not only enable everyone to contribute but will open the doors to a society where knowledge is free for all, a vision first sought by the very forefathers of the industry. References: AlphaGalileo(n.d.) Open Source Software. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from http://www.alphagalileo.org/images/postpn242.pdf American Bar Association (n.d.) An Overview of "Open Source" Software Licenses. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/opensource.html Hiong, GOH, (n.d.) Retrieved November 14, 2006, from www.bsa.org/asia-eng/policy/upload/OS-Commercial-Analysis.pdf Open Source (n.d.). The Open Source Definition. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php Ryan Paul (January, 2006) Surveys show open source popularity on the rise in industry. ARS Technica. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060120-6017.html Wikipedia (n.d.). Open Source Initiative. Retrieved November 14, 2006, fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Initiative Wikipedia (n.d.). Debian Free Software Guidelines. Retrieved November 14, 2006, fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_Free_Software_Guidelines Wikipedia (n.d.). Open Source Definition. Retrieved November 14, 2006, fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Definition Wikipedia (n.d.). 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