OPEN SOURCE

Open Source

Open Source

Introduction

Open sources is a pragmatic methodology or philosophy which aims to encourage the free production, development, redistribution and access to a software implementation and design details. There are numbers of concepts and terms in past have been employed by developers and programmers all over the world to refer to the phenomenon of open source, before the term was widely adopted. With the increase in technological advancement and internet, the concept of open source gained massive popularity. In context of developers and programs, opening the source code of any software of design helps in development of production model which is diverse and self-enhancing; while it also uses interactive communities model and communication paths. The purpose of the rise of the open source movement is to make the new licensing, copyright, consumer and domain issues created. This study in relation to the subject under study will attempt to explore different dynamics of the subject, in order to establish the answer of the question is open source useful?

Discussion and Analysis

Usually, the term open source refer to indicate towards the program in which companies, developers, programmers and others make the source code of their product available to common people so that they can use and modify the original designs. Typically, the creation of open source code was a collaborative efforts in which programmers intends to improve and enhance their codes by sharing them with other programmers and with community. In technological community, open source grew as a reaction to the proprietary software which are expensive and owned by corporations (Lerner & Tirole, 2002).

The model of open source is based on the concept of different yet concurrent agendas and ideas which vary in adoption of approaches towards production process. This model is completely opposite to programs which are developed on centralized model; however this approach is normally applied by large corporation and software development giants (Grewal, Lilien & Mallapragada, 2006). An important practice and principles of the development of open source software is the peer production through collaboration and bartering with the source material, end product, documentation available, blue prints and the cost incurred to public to use it. This model is also utilized in the development process of photovoltaic solar technology, open source drug discovery and finally utilized for open-source appropriate technologies (Lerner & Tirole, 2002). There are numerous advantages of open sources in the world of business. Following are some of the key benefits of open source (Crowston, Annabi & Howison, 2003).

Cost

In most cases, open source products are available for free. This means that the acquisition costs are much lower compared with the closed program that often requires purchasing a software license (Crowston, Annabi & Howison, 2003). Whether you choose open or closed software, however, it will require the related services such as installation, support, training and operations which definitely incur some cost. Open source also reduces the overheads cost for companies as it does not requires license fee, which eventually decrease the total operational cost of a company as ...