Most of you may already
know about open source software. Your understanding about open source software
might be limited to the fact that open source software is “free software”.
However, there are lot more interesting things about open source software that
makes them unique. What makes open source software unique is the fact that they
come with source codes. I know what most of you might be thinking, you might be
thinking that “I am not a programmer, so how source codes are benefiting me or
my business?” Well, let me explain how open source codes will help everyone.
Since source codes of open source software are available to the general public
for use or modification, if some developer finds a bug in the current version
of the software and he or she decides to fix that bug and redistributes the
software, everyone will get a fixed version of software. This innovative
ideology of open source software makes them very convenient and successful.
Why choose Open
Source Software over Commercial Software?
Security: When it comes to installing or using software, we have to consider security of the software. Security of the open source software is better than commercial software because in open source software development, source codes are available to the general public, and as soon as someone finds a bug, they will either fix the bug or notify developers to fix bugs. On the other hand, commercial software has closed or hidden source codes, so when someone finds a bug, they have no access to the source code to fix the problem. (Well, what you have to do in that case? Wait for their new bug free updates!) The developer team of the commercial software is limited whereas open source software has a wide range of developers.
Cost: No matter who you are, you would like to save money and get better product. One of the primary advantages of open source software is the cost. Most of the open source software comes at little or no cost. Yes, you heard it right, they come for free! Now, let's consider commercial software. Commercial software is expensive and you have to keep on updating them once their license expires.
I hope you enjoyed my blog post and learned something new about open source software. I will be looking forward to your replies in comments.
Reference:
http://blog.hathix.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/may-the-source-be-with-you_Open-source.jpg
http://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source
http://milindpadalkar.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/open_source_part_ii.jpg
Jay,
ReplyDeleteI thought your open source post was really informative because of how you compared open source software to commercial software. When you mentioned cost, I thought to myself how great that was because as a college student who is paying for my own housing and tuition, there isn’t room to buy new software so it is nice how there is free software out there. Customizing software was a great point you mentioned because besides me, other people out there would like to customize software they use to meet their own needs. One thing I wish you talked about for a bit was your own personal experiences about open source experience, besides that it was great to read!
hey Jay,
ReplyDeleteThat is a really nice and informative blog on Open source. I like how you deeply explained everything about open source. I knew about open source, but didn't had a thorough knowledge about uses and positive aspects of it over commercial software or sources. I like the second picture 'may the source be with you', it is funny. I also like the layout of your blog for this entry as you categorized everything, making it easy to read.
Hey Jay,
ReplyDeleteI must to say your blog is one of the best one I have seen. It has nice pictures and interesting context.
As other student says, you compaction open source software with commercial software makes your blog really informative.
Additionally, your blog is pretty well organized because you gave highlighted key words for each paragraph. It makes readers get your topic very easily.
Finally, I noticed that you list your reference at the end of the blog. If your reader want to reader more, they can check it.
All in all, it is a nice blog. I am looking forward to reading more your blogs.
Hi Jay, very informative post. Good job at keeping everything organized by category. I am glad that you mentioned customization. One of the biggest reasons that I use software like Firefox is because of the number of customization options. It is another reason why I prefer Android over IOS. I also agree with you on cost. Going back to the phone example, It is very clear that a majority of Android devices cost substantially less then IOS devices when un subsidized. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
ReplyDeleteHi Jay,
ReplyDeleteIt is very comfortable to read your blog. You write like you talk, which makes your blog very friendly to reader.
The comparison of open source and commercial software is very nice. It makes the advantages of open source very clear and understandable. If you could state little disadvantages of open source, your blog will look more persuasive. But you have already done a great work.
By the way, the bird picture in your blog is very funny. Your QR code looks professional than most people.
Looking forward to read more blogs from you.