Maxworks Understanding Opensource

UNDERSTANDING OPENSOURCE

WHAT IS OPENSOURCE SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY?

Opensource software is computer software that is available in source code form for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, and improve the software. Opensource licenses often meet the requirements of the Open Source Definition as established by the Open Source Initiative which states that the software is free of license costs. Some open source software is available within the public domain. Opensource software is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Opensource software is the most prominent example of opensource development and often compared to (technically defined) user-generated content or (legally defined) open content movements.

Opensource Software Philosophy & Motives

Think of Opensource as a new kind of Research & Development philosophy where the barriers to collaboration between key players have been removed. Rather than key participants belonging to the same organizations, opensource projects are open to anyone who can make valuable contributions and has internet access. Funding barriers to market research and software development efforts have also been lowered. That is, expensive focus groups to gain insight into the demand for new software products are replace by the free participation of users (business & technical) of the software product who contribute their expectations for the perfect product. Also, software projects that produce opensource products don't require the funding of an investor to start. All that is needed to start a project is a core group of developers willing to invest their talents solve a problem they know is adversely affecting users.

There are many motives for the participation of software developers and users. These projects are opportunities for software developers to create and innovate. Participation in the project establishes the software developer as an industry expert and positions that developer as a highly qualified consultant. Users who participate in opensource projects are the ultimate adopters of new technology. That is, Business users who participate gain sustainable competitive advantages over their competition - without the expense of funding an internal research and development effort. Technical users who participate gain tools and skills that helps them solve difficult problems easily.

Business Benefits

By definition, the free licenses of opensource software products lower costs. However, there are many other benefits to businesses that adopt opensource software. The philosophy of opensource encourages software developers to be innovative. This means advances in software engineering that can be applied to business use are more likely to be available in opensource software products first. The participation of users in the development of the software means many of the defect associated with initial releases of software have been identified and removed before the software is released for general use.

Because opensource software can be downloaded for free, more software developers can develop the skills need to solve business problems. More software developers with the skills businesses need lowers support costs. Lastly, participation by business and technical users creates a market "buzz" for the software product before it is released for general use. This market "buzz" makes investment in the software product a safer investment.

History

The open source label came out of a strategy session held on April 7, 1998 in Palo Alto in reaction to Netscape's January 1998 announcement of a source code release for Navigator (as Mozilla). A group of individuals at the session included Tim O'Reilly, Linus Torvalds, Tom Paquin, Jamie Zawinski, Larry Wall, Brian Behlendorf, Sameer Parekh, Eric Allman, Greg Olson, Paul Vixie, John Ousterhout, Guido van Rossum, Philip Zimmermann, John Gilmore and Eric S. Raymond. They used the opportunity before the release of Navigator's source code to clarify a potential confusion caused by the ambiguity of the word "free" in English.

Business Models

Open source software can be sold and used commercially. The financial return on open source software can also come from selling services, such as training and support, rather than the software itself. The use of dual-licensing provides an offer of the software under an open source license but also under separate proprietary license terms. Customers can be attracted to a no-cost and open source edition, then be part of an up-sell to a commercial enterprise edition.

Further, customers will learn of open source software in a company's portfolio and offerings but generate business in other proprietary products and solutions, including commercial technical support contracts and services. Another possibility is offering open source software in source code form only, while providing executable binaries to paying customers only. With permissive software, any company can distribute the package without the source or software freedoms.

Much of the Internet runs on open source software tools and utilities such as Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, known as the LAMP stack for web servers. Using open source appeals to software developers for three main reasons: low or no cost, access to source code they can tailor themselves, and a shared community that ensures a generally robust code base, with quick fixes for any new issues that surface.

Despite doing much business in proprietary software, some companies like Sun Microsystems and IBM participated in developing free and open source software to deter from monopolies and take a portion of market share for themselves. Netscape's actions are an example of this, and thus Mozilla Firefox has become more popular, stealing market share from Internet Explorer.

Widely Used Open Source Products

Prime examples of open source products are the Apache HTTP Server, the e-commerce platform osCommerce and the internet browser Mozilla Firefox. One of the most successful open source products is the GNU/Linux operating system, an open source Unix-like operating system which is used by many commercial vendors such as IBM.