Part of special sections: | copy - on copyrights |
free - as in freedom |
open - it's about accountability |
10 Misconceptions About Open Source Software
(Article from January 2008, src info below)
The ten listed misconceptions:
- Open source is free.
- Open source means Linux.
- There's no support for open source.
- Open source is less functional.
- Integrating open source and Windows is very difficult.
- Integrating open source and Windows is dead easy.
- Open source is more secure.
- Open source is less secure.
- Open source doesn't scale.
- Open source is hard to use.
The full article:
There's a lot of mythology around open-source software — software that is freely distributed with the source code. Some of these myths favor open source and some are against it. The thing they all have in common is that they can distort your selection of the best software for your needs. Here are some of the most common open-source myths and misconceptions. 1. Open source is free.Open-source software may be available for free, but that's not the same as saying there's no cost to use it. If you're going to run your business on it, there are costs, and they can be substantial. 2. Open source means Linux.Although the Linux operating system is the best known open-source product — and many open-source applications are written first, or even exclusively, for Linux — open source is a lot more than just Linux. Some open-source software is written for Windows first and some of it is never ported to Linux. Most other applications exist in both Linux and Windows versions. You don't have to use Linux to use open source, as millions of people prove every day. 3. There's no support for open source.There's quite a lot of support for open-source software, but some of it functions very differently than support for commercial software. Basically, popular open-source programs give you more options for support. 4. Open source is less functional.There's a tendency to regard open source as “toy” software. In fact, a lot of open-source packages exceed the functionality of equivalent commercial software. In some application categories, the most used product is an open-source product. For example, Apache is the leading Web server. MySQL, the database used by many open-source CRM programs, is a leading embedded database (a database used in other applications) and is used by thousands of applications and Web sites. This very article was written using Writer, the word processor in OpenOffice.org's office suite. Compared to Microsoft Word, Writer has added functionality and ease of use, such as in setting up style templates. 5. Integrating open source and Windows is very difficult.This is a Microsoft favorite. Microsoft has been running a series of ads claiming that open source (i.e., Linux) is hard to integrate with commercial software — notably, Windows. It makes a good talking point but by and large isn't true. A lot of open-source software integrates seamlessly with Windows and its applications, such as Excel and Outlook. Some of the software requires tweaking, but the tweaks are usually minor. This isn't limited to open-source software; using data in different programs often requires some conversion effort. Even some Microsoft programs need to be tweaked between versions. For example, Microsoft Office 2007 uses a new file format, making a special utility from Microsoft required for older versions of Office to read the files it creates. 6. Integrating open source and Windows is dead easy.The opposite opinion, fiercely held by some of the more extreme proponents of open source, is that integrating open source is an absolute no-brainer. This is as untrue as Microsoft's version. Or, more correctly, it's wrong often enough that you'll have all kinds of problems if you blindly follow it. If you want to bring data over from an open-source program into Windows, or vice versa, you should check for possible incompatibilities. Most of the time you won't find any, but sometimes there are differences in data formats — even “standard” data formats — or other areas that can cause problems. 7. Open source is more secure.Well, no. Open source has some distinct advantages when it comes to security, but it's no guarantee that a package is secure. This myth came about because the "bad guys" tend to attack the most popular programs. So long as those were commercial programs, that's where the criminals focused their attacks. When open-source programs became more well-known, they started coming under attack too. The Firefox open-source Web browser serves as an example; as it grew in popularity, the Net newts focused attacks on it, as well as commercial software like Microsoft's Internet Explorer. 8. Open source is less secure.This is another myth with Microsoft backing. It simply isn't true. When it comes to security, the major advantage of open-source applications is that there are more eyeballs on the code. Because the source code is freely distributed with the applications, anyone can find, report and even fix bugs. A lot of people do, and it tends to happen very quickly. Even before the development team for the open-source product acknowledges the bug and announces the fix, there are likely to be several third-party fixes circulating in the newsgroups and forums. And those third-party fixes are quickly tested and evaluated by other knowledgeable users. 9. Open source doesn't scale.There was a time, seven or eight years ago, when this was true of most open-source applications. It was especially true of the Linux operating system. However, it's not true any more. In general, open-source applications are at least as scalable as their commercial counterparts. 10. Open source is hard to use.This is another hangover from four or five years ago. The first wave of open-source software was mostly written by experts (OK, geeks) who assumed a comparable level of geekdom on the part of the users. Much of the software (Apache, for example) was oriented toward programmers and network administrators and not toward individual users. Especially with the Linux applications, you often had to be comfortable with the technology in order to get the applications up and running. It wasn't impossible, as thousands of users proved, but it wasn't slip-the-disk-in-and-go. |
Found March 2009 at www.insidecrm.com/features/10-misconceptions-012408, By Rick Cook | January 24, 2008. |
Part of special sections: | copy - on copyrights |
free - as in freedom |
open - it's about accountability |