The Benefits of Open Source Software

As unbelievable as it sounds, there are businesses and foundations out there that actively develop and syndicate software for no cost. The reason for them giving away their software is varied, but the benefits to the consumers is huge.

Many years ago in the 70′s, computer geeks and nerds would create software and syndicate it to other geeks 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. Rather alarmingly for him, his product was also distributed around and he ended up writing a long letter explaining why software should not be free (Google Bill Gates Open Letter).

In recent years, the open source community has been gaining a large slice in the software market, mostly driven by developing nations who can’t afford the licensing fees of commercial software like Windows, Excel, Photoshop and even Programming Languages.

There are free versions of just about everything, from blogging platforms to images. The open source concept has even hit the food and drink market with open source recipes for wine and beer now available on the World Wide Web. I am even typing this brief article on a piece of open source software called Open Office, a free substitute to MS Word, and it’s powered by Ubuntu, an open source substitute to Windows or Mac OS X.

When it comes to the Internet, there is a plethora of free around to run any kind of website. Web development companies such as WordPress and Wikimedia Foundation release software free for companies to use. What makes it very attractive is that open source customization can be done by most of companies around the Earth.

Using open source software to power your site sets up a low cost base from which to begin, eg WordPress is perfect for virtually any kind of website, but with a bit of WordPress customization you can have it meet your exact requirements for a small percentage of the cost of creating it from the beginning.

Before you order your next script, always check to discover if there is an open source option on the market. Especially relevant during these economic conditions, open source software may be one way you or your organization can drive down its costs.

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