The Benefits of Open Source Software
As incredible as it sounds, there are businesses and foundations out there that actively develop and syndicate software for free. The reason for them opening up their software depends on company to company, but the benefits to the customers is immense.
Back in the 1970’s, computer geeks and nerds would develop software and give it to other programmers for nothing to try and improve it. Along came a man called Bill Gates who saw a entrepreneurial opportunity in programming software for computers and built Altair BASIC. Unfortunately for him, his software was also pirated around and he ended up writing a pointed letter explaining why software should not be free (try Googling Bill Gates Open Letter).
In recent years, the open source community has been winning a large foothold in the software market, possibly driven by developing countries who can’t afford the licensing fees of commercial software like Windows, Excel, Photoshop and even Programming Languages.
There are free versions of probably everything, from e-commerce solutions to email clients. The open source concept has even hit the food and drink market with open source recipes for wine and beer now available on the Web. I am even typing this informative article on a piece of open source software called Open Office, a free substitute to MS Word, and it’s powered by Ubuntu, a free substitute to Windows or Mac OS X.
When it comes to the Internet, there is a plethora of open source software around to power any kind of site. Web development companies such as Wordpress and Wikimedia Foundation release solutions free for organizations to use. What makes it incredibly enticing is that open source customization can be completed by a number of companies around the globe.
Choosing open source software for your site provides a great base from which to commence, for example Wordpress is fantastic for virtually any kind of site, but with a bit of Wordpress customization you can have it meet your exact requirements for half of the price of developing it from scratch.
Before you buy your next software, always look to discover if there is an open source option available. Especially relevant during these economic conditions, open source products could be one way you or your organization can reduce its costs.
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