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Why Open Source

Open Source is finally beginning to get coverage in the mainstream press. Linux, Apache and MySQL are fast becoming household names. Many large corporations are already reaping the benefits of Open Source in some form or another. So, when it comes to the choice in considering an IT solution for your business, Open Source is on the radar. But why choose an Open Source solution?

One of the first impressions of Open Source is its association with controversy. But which controversy exactly? Much of the chatter in the press and on the net has hinged around the dubious marketing strategy of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, which has resulted in a plethora of misconceptions surrounding FOSS. In reality, the power, security, stability and flexibility of OSS is gradually being admitted. True, it is a challenge to the way that many of us think about business, but who in business has not been willing to face challenges?

Fundamentally, FOSS is about freedom. The freedom to use, study, understand and share computer software for common needs. Motivations for the developers of FOSS are varied, but include kudos, self promotion and ethical principles, among others. The revenue model is no longer based around volume licensing but around services, products and skills associated with the software.

So let's look at this from a pragmatic perspective. We run businesses where we have a growing dependency on IT and there are cost associations all along the way. First, there's the hardware: that's a given cost. At least hardware prices are continuing to fall as performance increases, so the majority of us are reasonably comfortable with that. Licensing can be the real killer, usually costing significantly more than the hardware. Basics, such as the operating system and office suite, don't come for free. No doubt there are many cases where, faced with the cost implication, businesses have installed multiple copies of software where only one license exists, but those days are coming to a close with the current crackdown on software piracy.
As a business expands it has further requirements such as a mail server, web server, database server, each again with a cost association. Some database servers charge on a per CPU basis, or even on a per transaction basis, potentially spiralling the costs through the roof.
 
The direct cost advantage of Open source is clear. Install as many times as you want and the cost is still the cost of the media or the download. But what are the other considerations regarding FOSS?
  • Vendor lock-in is a serious issue with proprietary software. There is a competitive advantage to a supplier not releasing information on how their product works, to ensure that you will become a loyal and repeat customer: not always through choice, but because you are locked in to their way of doing things. Open Source tends to mean open standards and the choice is there for you to switch products more easily if you are dissatisfied. From open standards comes interoperability, so systems can more easily integrate with each other.
    Suppose a vendor is purchased by a competitor who drops support for your favourite product. You have no recourse but to look for an alternative. With FOSS, the source is freely available and will always remain so, so it can always be fixed and modified. Even if it is a project that is no longer active, you have more time to look for alternative strategies. Open Source acts like a form of insurance against risk.
  • Community support is sometimes cited as an argument against FOSS in an attempt to disparage. However, a moment's thought will often tell you that community support is commonly the first port of call in proprietary software as well: because it works. With FOSS, you also tend to get the ear of the developers too. Commercial support and consultancy offerings are available for many of the major mature FOSS projects, just as in any mature proprietary offerings. You generally pay for the level of support you require.
  • Innovation is in abundance within FOSS. The Open Source community is full of some of the most skilled and innovative developers and computer scientists on the planet. Because of the nature of regular releases, patches and bug fixes, the software can more easily be kept up to date. If there is a really-must-have feature you need for a product, and it's not on the road map for development, you can always pay for a development company to add that feature. That's generally not an option with closed source.
  • Reliability and scalability are two features that are associated with mature FOSS systems. Time between restarts in Linux and BSD (BSD, Free BSD, Open BSD) servers are often measured in years, not days. More than 400 of the top 500 fastest supercomputers in the world run Linux. Flexibility is another key feature. The combination of common FLOSS technologies, such as Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (sometimes Perl or Python) and collectively known as LAMP, is proving to be a potent collection of systems to build dynamic websites and application servers. In fact the available technologies are more diverse, and include the Postgres database, the Ruby programming language, the different variants of BSD, the principle is the same: a collection of systems which easily interact to build fast, stable, scalable solutions.

The key to the successful use of Open Source is being informed and intelligent about it. Be aware of the FUD and be aware that there are vocal advocates on both sides who may, at times, stretch the truth a little. If you are part of an SME, consider the advantages of implementing enterprise level applications that would ordinarily be beyond budget.  Be pragmatic.