Jim Morris's Thought of the Week (or month, or year, ...)
Friday, March 24, 2006
Use Open Source Software.
In the earlier days of the computer business, computer companies gave their software away to encourage hardware sales. As time went by, companies realized that selling software was lucrative as well. However, a group of programmers led by Richard Stallman created a movement that encouraged the free exchange of software. These progressive programmers believed that software and all other information should be free and, ultimately, they created the system now known as GNU-Linux. Many other similar groups have followed resulting in the creation of a common base of software that now serves the world well.
Open source software is nominally free, but it has costs. Most organizations buy support services from companies such as Red Hat and Spikesource. These open source support firms not only provide services that enable the various applications to work together, but they also inform companies of updates and other new related software.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of open source software is that software engineers can fix or extend the software themselves, if necessary. Another advantage is that because the code can be inspected, it’s an educational tool for programmers.
posted by Jim Morris @ 9:09 PM
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