What is Open Source Software?

Wikipedia definition:
"Open source software refers to computer software and the availability of its source code as open source under an open source license to study, change, and improve its design".

In 1998, a group of individuals presented "open source" to relabel free software as open-source software, for such software to become more mainstream in the corporate world. Software developers may want to publish their software with an open-source software license, so that anybody may also develop the same software or understand how it works. Open-source software generally allows anybody to make a new version of the software, port it to new operating systems and processor architectures, share it with others or market it. The aim of open source is to let the product be more understandable, modifiable, duplicatable, or simply accessible, while it is still marketable.

The Open Source Definition, notably, presents an open-source philosophy, and further defines a boundary on the usage, modification and redistribution of open-source software. Software licenses grant rights to users which would otherwise be prohibited by copyright. These include rights on usage, modification and redistribution. Several open-source software licenses have qualified within the boundary of the Open Source Definition. The most prominent example is the popular GNU General Public License (GPL). While open source presents a way to broadly make the sources of a product publicly accessible, the open-source licenses allow the authors to fine tune such access.

Why use OSS?
Proprietary software products do not offer the control, flexibility or support that Open Source Software products provide to you. Further, proprietary software like Windows constantly suffer from viruses and worms, "blue screens" and unexpected crashes. And for all the expense of licenses and upgrades, there is no guarantee of service when you call for assistance.

Open Source Software products are more secure, reliable and flexible, and they offer more innovations from the millions of developers worldwide. OSS products are free of cost and free from restrictive licenses so you are free to examine and modify them to meet your needs. Because the source code is open, there are millions of software developers available to help you support, service and enhance your systems.

When you consider the cost of staying with proprietary software, including the cost of downtime due to viruses, faulty software and waiting for the next release to fix bugs, moving to Open Source is an obvious strategy for any business.

What can OSS be used for?
Netlogtec have used Open Source software for a vast number of requirements. From the installation of a network management platform for the BBC through to the installation of SPAMAssassin (to manage the proliferation of SPAM) for a medium sized company, Netlogtec have used Linux successfully leaving our customers with stable secure platforms.

For the small to medium sized company there are huge gains to be made in the negation of purchasing Proprietary Software for the back-office systems. As opposed to buying the expensive Server licensing and individual client licenses, Linux can be deployed making significant cost reductions. For the end-user, they will still have their Microsoft client software i.e. email, file sharing, MS Office suite etc, however the Server will be running the secure and stable Linux equivalent.

Below we have listed some of the Open Source equivalents to current Proprietary Software:

Open Source Support
One of the myths with regards to Open Source Software is the lack of support available. Netlogtec offer support on all our installations that include OSS and there are now a vast number of UK companies that provide additional support options, should they be required. For more information on OSS Support please visit www.opensourceconsortium.org

For more information on how the introduction of Open Source Software onto your infrastructure and how you can reap its benefits please contact one of our Account Managers.