Comparing Open Source

A good comparison between open source software and proprietary commercial software, is illustrated in the way a typical organisation currently has to purchase a software license for each member of staff it employs, whereas open source software does not have such a costly restriction. For example, if an organisation employs 500 members of staff all requiring the ability to create documents, send email and use spreadsheets, they would need to purchase 500 licenses for each software application. If in the future a new version of this software were released, that same organisation would be required to pay an upgrade fee for all 500 licenses. Therefore, there is 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 and organisations can freely distribute the software throughout their organisation without the legal and cost overheads that are associated with proprietary commercial software. Not only does this save on licensing fees each year but also removes the often hidden cost tracking software.

In addition to the cost and tracking licensing issues, proprietary commercial software also locks organisations into non-standard file formats preventing these organisations easily switching to other software products. This locking ensures future income for the commercial software company as data becomes tied directly into their product, which is good for their business but not so good for yours! Open source software has no such lock-in and 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.

Organisations migrating to free open source software are ensuring the future accessibility of their data and removing the cost and legal requirements associated with proprietary commercial software.