Open Source in a Closing Economy.
Written by Frank Cecere
Thursday, September 24th 2009
As the times get tougher more and more companies are looking to
open source
software to significantly reduce software licensing cost. Open source software is a
community initiative driven by programmers worldwide with the focus of providing
free or nearly free software that’s just as good as the big guys.
Here’s how it works for you:
Lets say I write a small piece of software for my own needs that allows me to type
words onto a document and print it out. Nothing fancy, no spell check or formatting
capabilities. I decide to upload my software to a community forum where other
programmers are free to use it and modify it for any of their projects. Another
programmer finds it and uses it for his project, but he also needs spell check. So he writes a piece of software (or modifies mine) to include a nifty spell check function. When he is done he uploads his newest version of the software back onto the community forum where others can use it.
Through this process, a small, simple piece of software can become a full featured application that rivals the big software companies best products. Also, while large software companies have large staff software writers, they can in no way match the power of the open source community which can be ten’s of thousands programmers. With all these programmers looking into one project with a microscope, bug’s and security issues get rooted out much quicker than can be done with a budget limited staff.
Frank Cecere is the owner and operator of Charlotte Networks. Charlotte's fastest IT support and managed services company in town. Over 7 years in business supporting and growing out clients computer networks to make their business MORE PROFITABLE then their competition.
We serve as the hands on computer support department for several new and well established business. We can pick-up where you need us, or we can develop your companies computer usage policies and disaster recovery preparation plan.
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