Open source, Pros and Cons

1
Open source, Pros and Cons

• Dani Mezher

2
Total cost of ownership

• Open source has a much lower price
• Free is a very good price
• The total cost of open source is lower
• Expertise vs Certified Experts
• Vendors are starting to offer guaranteed open
  source solutions.

• Some software isnt compatible with open source
• The number of Linux desktops is meager compared
  to Microsoft Windows.
• By choosing a Linux desktop, a user forecloses on
  some software because it may never be created for
  or ported to Linux.

3
Features quality

• Open source is more
• Reliable
• Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow
• Without sufficient, talented interest, an open
  source project fails.
• Secure
• With both open source and proprietary software,
  effective security depends on thoughtful
  deployment, regular monitoring, and timely
  upgrades or other modifications.

• Proprietary software
• Has more features
• It may be easier to use peripherals like digital
  cameras with proprietary software
• More user friendly
• A cloned program may be just as user friendly as
  the original
• Open source
• Is not mature enough
• Much of the software has been used and improved
  for years

4
Features quality (cont.)

• Powerful (SpeedScale)
• Some open source programs are generally faster
  and scale larger than proprietary alternatives,
• Open Office
• Network friendly
• Apple builds its OS X on BSD. The Internet is a
  critical reason Apple recognizes they can't
  privately innovate Internet functionality as well
  or as fast as the open source community

5
Features quality

• Customizable
• By it's very nature, any user with enough
  expertise can tailor software to their needs.
• Better formats
• Open source usually uses open formats.
• The open source movement is partly a response to
  incompatibility in proprietary software.

6
Deployment maintenance

• Open source
• License management easier
• Install any number of copies,
• open source companies don't bother with
  complicated licenses
• no risk of illegal copies or license audits,
• anti-piracy measures (CD keys, product activation)

• Open source is harder to deploy
• Some open source software is just as easy to
  deploy as proprietary alternatives.
• Solutions like Red Hat Linux offer installers
  with GUI...

7
Deployment maintenance(cont)

• Greater independence from companies
• Even if a software company goes bankrupt, the
  community still has the source code.
• "end of life" decisions or undesirable new
  features can't be forced on the users.

• Proprietary software offers better service
  support
• For both open source and proprietary software,
  experts depend on email lists and community Web
  sites as well as contracted support.
• The quality and availability of help is
  proportional to interest and use, especially in
  open source.

8
Users and Migration

• Some open source software is just as easy to
  learn how to use
• For better or worse, most users are more familiar
  and more comfortable with proprietary software.
• many open source solutions are overtly cloning
  proprietary interfaces and environments.

• Migration is too expensive
• There may be unforeseen problems, as when
  existing hardware isn't actually sufficient or
  when data isn't easy to migrate.
• Its difficult to integrate open source
  proprietary solutions
• Integrating any two programs is often
  challenging.
• It may be difficult to integrate some open
  source and proprietary solutions.

9
Free markets choice

• Software should be a commodity
• Commodities are interchangeable resources without
  unique features.
• disposable batteries are a commodity.
• companies try to monopolize a market by designing
  their software to be indispensable.

10
Free markets choice

• Proprietary formats lead to vendor lock in
• Microsoft FrontPage is notorious for creating
  "Web pages that work well under the latest
  version of Internet Explorer, but not as well
  under Netscape or other browsers." (Netmechanic,
  Browser Compatibility)

11
Free markets choice

• Proprietary software leads to monopolies
• Microsoft is a visible, relevant example of what
  open source tries to avoid.

12
Principles and rights

• Debate about philosophy, not money.
• The original debate was about philosophy.
• The newer open source movement is more appealing
  to countries and companies. While they may find
  the philosophy attractive, they choose open
  source for very pragmatic reasons.

• Proprietary companies are already making their
  software transparent
• This open code is not open source because of the
  restrictive licensing agreements involved.

13
Principles and rights

• Software is better when its transparent
• Users are familiar with the strange error
  messages that appear when a program fails.
• Often, these messages use special codes to
  express the problem.
• Because open source programs aren't trying to
  protect secrets, they can offer more exact
  information about an error.

• Open source threatens intellectual property
  rights
• Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an
  intellectual property sense to everything it
  touches. (Steve Ballmer)
• But any content created using open source
  software (including GPL software) still belongs
  to the author.
• The open source allows companies to create
  proprietary software while preserving a commons
  of open source code (Apple OS X).

14
Principles and rights

• Open source is more empowering
• Any user can fix the bugs or add the features
  that matter most to them.
• Open source frees the users to decide for
  themselves.
• Open source is community driven and community
  serving
• A large community of motivated, generous
  programmers work together.

15
Principles rights

• Proprietary software threatens civil rights, open
  source will protect civil rights
• The people with the source code control the
  software, the software controls the architecture,
  and the architecture protects or violates user
  rights.

• Open source is anti-business
• The software industry was already transforming
  from a product model to a service model.
• Companies like IBM are thriving with open source
  because they offer quality service.
• Companies like Red Hat sell open source software
  with value added, including service.