Comparing Open Source

A good comparison between open source software and proprietary commercial software, is illustrated in the way software is purchased in a typical organisation. Commercial software requires an organisation to purchase a software license for each member of staff they employ. For example if an organisation employs 500 members of staff all needing to create documents, send email and use spreadsheets, they would purchase 500 licenses for each software application. If in the future a new version of this software is released, that same organisation would be required to pay an upgrade fee for all 500 licenses. There is also a legal requirement to ensure the correct number of licenses are purchased for the software actually in use. This legal requirement is taken very seriously by The Federation Against Software Theft and directors of companies can be personally charged and risk imprisonment if they ignore these requirements.

Unlike proprietary commercial software, open source software does not require organisations to purchase licenses to use its software as the license is free so any organisation can freely distribute the software throughout their organisation without the legal and cost overheads that are associated with commercial software. Not only does this save on licensing fees each year but also removes the overhead of tracking licensing.

In addition to the cost and licensing issues, proprietary commercial software also locks organisations into non-standard file formats preventing these organisation to switch to other software products. This locking ensures future income for the commercial software company as data becomes tied directly into their software which is good for their business but not so good for yours! Open source software works in completely the opposite way as it creates “Open” standards to ensure easy interoperability with other software products. The open source community allow for the standards to be defined globally by many people rather than allowing a single company to dictate standards. By opening up standards in this way, other open source software can be created to integrate easily without any hidden anomalies.

By moving your organisation to free open source software, you are ensuring the future accessibility of your data and removing the cost and legal requirements associated with proprietary commercial software.