7 Ways Businesses Can Benefit From Open-Source Software
- Cost. The financial benefits offered by open-source software have been one of the main driving factors behind the switch from proprietary (closed) software to OSS.
- Security. The security advantages on offer don’t necessarily mean that OSS is more secure than proprietary software, it just means that bugs and defects can be identified and fixed ...
- Quality. In the same way developers fix bugs and defects to make OSS more secure, they also contribute by adding features to improve the user experience and the software ...
- Customizability. While proprietary software often comes packed with features, there are always certain features or functionalities missing that cannot be added by anyone besides the company’s developers.
- Reliability. Reliable software is often defined by its ability to perform the necessary and desired functions without experiencing unexpected failure, performance issues, operational disruptions, and data loss.
- Freedom and Flexibility. The ever-changing business environment means that certain software solutions might not fill the desired void, or the need for them may change overtime.
- User and Technical Support. Even though a majority of open-source (and most proprietary) software doesn’t come with dedicated support teams, the worldwide open-source community provides a substantial amount of ...
What are the advantages and disadvantages of open source software?
Open source software has several advantages: It costs nothing and provides the source code so that anyone can modify the software for their own purposes. It can have many authors.
What are the features of open source software?
Open source software is collaborative, relying on community production and peer review to use, change, and share source code with each other. Developers share insights, ideas, and code to create more innovative software solutions both collectively and individually.
What is the best open source software?
open source developers, and others interested in software supply chain security to explore the security threats affecting the software supply chain, share best practices and mitigation tactics, and increase knowledge about how to best secure open source ...
How to start contributing to open source software?
- LICENSE: By definition, every open source project must have an open source license. ...
- README: The README is the instruction manual that welcomes new community members to the project. ...
- CONTRIBUTING: Whereas READMEs help people use the project, contributing docs help people contribute to the project. ...
What are the benefits of open source?
Here are five benefits of open source which you won't find elsewhere. 1. More Security. Users inexperienced with open source products may be concerned about their security. Because the source code is available to anyone with an Internet connection, aren't security flaws easy to see, giving malicious programmers vital information about ...
Why is open source important?
Because the source code is open, programmers can locate security flaws and repair them. And because open source development teams are generally larger than their commercial counterparts , there are more eyes looking at the code. That means open source projects have more minds making the software secure. 2.
What happens if you don't upgrade Open Source?
But if a user becomes comfortable with a particular version and chooses not to upgrade, the upgrade cycle will eventually leave the user behind without support or with obsolete file formats. Open source software, on the other hand, often has no such push toward upgrades.
Is open source better than commercial?
While not every open source project is better than the commercial competition, it will frequently give it a run for the money. You get better security, with quicker bug fixes. And the slowly changing nature of open source means your business won't be forced to adapt to new upgrades every year.
Is open source software bug free?
While probably no software is completely bug free, the nature of open source software development helps catch and fix bugs early. That speed is especially visible when contrasted with commercial software's bug fix cycle. A member of an open source development team can release a new version immediately after finding and fixing a bug, ...
Why do companies use open source software?
That improves maintainability, discoverability, reach, and quality. Companies often use open source software for very practical reasons—such as cost—and even deep-pocketed organizations like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft put resources into in-house open source software development. Moreover, even companies that you wouldn’t expect ...
How many types of licenses are there for open source?
In contrast, open source licensing tends to be much more permissive, as well as more flexible. In fact, there are at least 2,000 types of licenses used with the over two million open source projects in existence today.
What to do if you use proprietary software?
If you use proprietary software and need a key feature that can help your business, you have to submit a request to the developer and wait. And wait. And wait some more. Unless your company is big enough to get the developer’s attention, you could be waiting for a while.
Why is working on proprietary projects stressful?
It can be stressful to worry about maintaining secrecy all the time, which can hurt workforce morale.
Is open source software less expensive than alternatives?
Even if the open source software comes with a licensing fee, it will likely be much less than the alternatives. 2. Security Concerns Are Typically Few and Far Between. It’s not uncommon for an open source application to have thousands of people working on it.
Is open source software free?
Here are seven key benefits of using open source software. 1. It’s Free, and When It’s Not, It’s Cheaper than the Alternatives. Some people look at open source software and invoke that old adage, “You get what you pay for.”. They assume that if they try to implement free open source software at their companies, ...
Is open source software guaranteed to survive?
Open source software has nearly guaranteed survival. Although nothing is 100% certain, if an open source application is freely available online and has a community supporting it and working on it, it should be available in perpetuity.
Benefits of Open Source
As the VP of Engineering of Logz.io, which has entirely embraced the open source benefits model, I am an open source “true believer” and see many benefits to using open source software. I highlighted five of these key benefits on the Dev Interrupted Podcast with LinearB co-founder Dan Lines:
Managed Service Providers
Open source software very commonly lends itself to the managed service model. In fact, most managed service providers would not be open source-able without open source software. A proprietary solution cannot be used in such a manner -- the licensing would forbid it.
This is the Way
In the end, I truly believe that the benefits of open source vastly outweigh any costs that may be incurred. We’ve staked our whole business on it here at logz.io, and it’s clearly working not only for us but for many other companies and managed service providers.
What is OpenLogic by Perforce?
OpenLogic by Perforce delivers comprehensive support services for open source software, so that your teams can enjoy the all the benefits of using open source — and confidently meet your requirements including compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI .
What will happen if companies can't keep up with innovation?
In the coming decade, the companies that cannot keep up with innovation will quickly become outdated. All organizations should be focused on modernizing and digitizing their products and assets, and that includes a proactive and energetic strategy for the consumption and management of open source software.
Do you have to pay for open source software?
Typically, open source software implies that you are not obligated to pay for the use of software. You don’t need to use procurement overhead to manage license renewals. It is highly beneficial to enterprises to save budget on software to utilize elsewhere.
Is open source software secure?
The term, coined by Linus Torvald, is that if all of the source code for a project is made open there will be more opportunities for white hat professionals to review that code and make it more secure. This theory has continuously proved itself to be true.
Why is open source important for business?
Faster time to market. Because open source solutions are openly available and can be explored for free, it's often much faster to investigate options and get solutions off the ground. Cost effective.
What is open source code?
Open source code means just that—you get full visibility into the code base, as well as all discussions about how the community develops features and addresses bugs. In contrast, proprietary code produced in secrecy may come with unforeseen limitations and other unwelcome surprises.
Corporate open source programs on the rise
The survey also found that 53% of companies have an open source program or plan to establish one in the near future:
Giving back is a competitive advantage
It’s important to note that companies aren’t forming open source programs and giving back to open source for purely altruistic reasons. Recent research from Harvard Business School shows that open source-contributing companies capture up to 100% more productive value from open source than companies that do not contribute back.
About the author
Chris Aniszczyk - Chris Aniszczyk ( @cra) is an open source executive and engineer by trade with a passion for building a better world through open collaboration. He's currently a VP at the Linux Foundation focused on developer relations and running the Open Container Initiative (OCI) / Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).
The Benefits of Open Source Software Within the Enterprise
According to Gartner®, “OSS is used in mission-critical IT workloads by more than 95% of the end-user and vendor-side IT organizations worldwide, whether they are aware of it or not." The real news is that, per Gartner®, “Through 2025, more than 70% of enterprises will increase their IT spending in open-source software (OSS), compared with their current IT spending.” There are a number of reasons why this is happening, but most of them correspond to the sheer number of benefits that organizations can experience when successfully integrating open source software into their IT infrastructure..
Realizing the Benefits of Open Source Software
As noted above, there is a gulf between recognizing the benefits of open source software, and having the organizational wherewithal to realize those benefits.
Final Thoughts
Realizing the benefits of open source software starts with understanding the benefits and limitations of open source software. But, as Gartner® discusses at length in "A CTO’s Guide to Top Practices for Open Source Software", that's just the start.
Benefits of Open Source
- As the VP of Engineering of Logz.io, which has entirely embraced the open source benefits model, I am an open source “true believer” and see many benefits to using open source software. I highlighted five of these key benefits on the Dev Interrupted Podcastwith LinearB co-founder Da…
Open Source Is Widely Used
- What development organization doesn’t use git these days?There are many open source projects that are widely used. Tools like Elastic, Kafka, and the Apache Web Server are amongst the most popular and commonly used software applications in the world. Because they and many other similar projects are so popular, there are copious resources available for learning, troubleshooti…
Open Source Is Responsive
- Open source is usually very responsive to issues and bug reports, often delivering fixes and updates in days or even hours. These updates can often be deployed immediately whereas with proprietary software, you often have to wait months for the next release to resolve a problem. New features are available earlier in the development cycle, and users can normally see and try …
Open Source Is More Secure
- Security is a worry with any software that you use, and some argue that open source isn’t secure because everyone and anyone can see what the application does--but I say that open source software is moresecure because of this. https://youtu.be/dgpCTgHNLeQ Since everyone and anyone can see the code, they doknow exactly what the software does and doesn’t do. Thousan…
Open Source Is Future-Proof
- One of the benefits of open source is that it can never disappear. A proprietary company can go out of business, leaving you high and dry and with no options but to stick with what you have or migrate to another solution. However, open source is available, well, forever. Put a project up on GitHub, and it will live as long as someone has the source code. In a worst case scenario, an org…
Managed Service Providers
- Open source software very commonly lends itself to the managed service model. In fact, most managed service providers would not be open source-able without open source software. A proprietary solution cannot be used in such a manner -- the licensing would forbid it. Taking open source and providing it as a service is a powerful business model that is only possible because …
Is Open Source For Everyone?
- No -- open source software is not for everyone. Some organizations--especially large, enterprise companies--are not able to risk the “infection” from licenses like the GPL. Large organizations often have legal requirements that prevent them from safely absorbing open source. Some organizations simply can’t or won’t overcome NIH -- the “Not Invented Here” syndrome. Some wa…
This Is The Way
- In the end, I truly believe that the benefits of open source vastly outweigh any costs that may be incurred. We’ve staked our whole business on it here at logz.io, and it’s clearly working not only for us but for many other companies and managed service providers. Fully and clearly considered, it’s hard to see why your company couldn’t benefit from using open source Software.Listen hereif y…
Cost
- The financial benefits offered by open-source software have been one of the main driving factors behind the switch from proprietary (closed) software to OSS. While the word “free” in the popular term “free software” refers to freedom (libre) rather than free of charge,most open-source software doesn’t cost a dime to purchase or implement, and although this is often the first attra…
Security
- The security advantages on offer don’t necessarily mean that OSS is more secure than proprietary software, it just means that bugs and defects can be identified and fixed quicker. As the source code for open-source software is freely available, anyone can inspect the code for faults. Linus Torvalds, the creator of the open-source operating system, ...
Quality
- In the same way developers fix bugs and defects to make OSS more secure, they also contribute by adding features to improve the user experience and the software itself. On any given open-source project, there can be hundreds or thousands of developers all adding new features or enhancing existing ones to improve the overall quality of the software. Unlike proprietary softwa…
Customizability
- While proprietary software often comes packed with features, there are always certain features or functionalities missing that cannot be added by anyone besides the company’s developers. The ability to customize open-source software not only allows businesses to tailor the software to their needs and requirements, it can also provide competitive advantages. By developing custo…
Reliability
- Reliable software is often defined by its ability to perform the necessary and desired functions without experiencing unexpected failure, performance issues, operational disruptions, and data loss. The truth is that all software contains bugs that can cause one or more of these issues. The difference between the reliability of open-source software and proprietary software is in the tim…
Freedom and Flexibility
- The ever-changing business environment means that certain software solutions might not fill the desired void, or the need for them may change overtime. Businesses often have to trial a number of different solutions in order to find the one that matches their requirements. OSS doesn’t lock users in like proprietary software, therefore providing them with the freedom needed to find the r…
User and Technical Support
- Even though a majority of open-source (and most proprietary) software doesn’t come with dedicated support teams, the worldwide open-source community provides a substantial amount of support to users and developers in the form of forums, chats, blog posts and articles, and videos – usually all for free. In addition to the free resources, a number of OSS companies are n…
Benefits of Open Source
Managed Service Providers
- Open source software very commonly lends itself to the managed service model. In fact, most managed service providers would not be open source-able without open source software. A proprietary solution cannot be used in such a manner -- the licensing would forbid it. Taking open source and providing it as a service is a powerful business model that ...
Is Open Source For Everyone?
- No -- open source software is not for everyone. Some organizations--especially large, enterprise companies--are not able to risk the “infection” from licenses like the GPL. Large organizations often have legal requirements that prevent them from safely absorbing open source. Some organizations simply can’t or won’t overcome NIH -- the “Not Invented Here” syndrome. Some wa…
This Is The Way
- In the end, I truly believe that the benefits of open source vastly outweigh any costs that may be incurred. We’ve staked our whole business on it here at logz.io, and it’s clearly working not only for us but for many other companies and managed service providers. Fully and clearly considered, it’s hard to see why your company couldn’t benefit from using open source Software. Listen hereif y…