Open Source

The open-source model has a lot to offer the business world. It's a way to build open standards as actual software, rather than paper documents. The open-source model is a way that many companies and individuals can collaborate on a product that none of them could achieve alone and it's the rapid bug-fixes and the changes that the user asks for, done to the user's own schedule.

The open-source model also means increased security; because code is in the public view it will be exposed to extreme scrutiny, with problems being found and fixed instead of being kept secret until the wrong person discovers them. All these features come together to form the most fundamental benefit, increased reliability.

The foundation of the business case for open-source is high reliability. Open-source software is peer-reviewed software; it is more reliable than closed, proprietary software. Mature open-source code is as bullet-proof as software ever gets. Until recently this was a radical idea to many businesspeople; many had a belief that open-source software is necessarily not "professional," that it is shoddily made and more prone to fail than closed software.

The main perceived advantage of open source models for the business world is the fact that open-source software is made available free of charge or at a low cost. But what really distinguishes open source software is the freedom that the user has to:

• Use the software as they wish, for whatever they wish, on as many computers as they wish, in any technically appropriate situation.
• Have the software at their disposal to fit it to their needs. Of course, this includes improving it, fixing its bugs, augmenting its functionality, and studying its operation.
• Redistribute the software to other users, who could themselves use it according to their own needs. This redistribution can be done for free, or at a charge, not fixed beforehand.