Open Source Software Should a Company Select

Open Source Software Should a company select proprietary, open source, or free software for its most important business information systems? All companies should be using open source applications. This is when they will be able to download programs (for free) to run certain aspects of their business. This basic idea behind this strategy is to dramatically reduce the underlying costs that they are paying for IT solutions. As a result, the total number of companies utilizing these applications, to run various functions for their business has been rising dramatically.

Evidence of this can be seen with a study that was conducted by Forrester Research. They found that the total amount of companies they surveyed using these applications was 52%. Furthermore, researchers determined that businesses should be utilizing these kinds of applications to run major aspects of their operations. (Wheeler, 2007) This is significant, because it is highlighting why a wide variety of companies that have begun switching to open source applications.

However, when it comes to these areas, most are hesitant about using these kinds of software solutions on a large scale. This is problematic, because it means that many companies are spending far more than they should on addressing their different technology issues. As a result, all businesses must examine the underlying risks that are associated with these programs and benefits. Once this occurs, it will provide specific insights about how open source software, can help all businesses to streamline their operations through: the use of these applications.

Drawbacks of Using Open Source Software The biggest drawbacks of using open source software include: there are no warranties and it can be combined with other applications. The lack of warranties on these kinds of programs means, that anyone who is using software can run into a number of problems or errors. For a business, this can be time consuming as it will cause them to have no way to quickly fix the issues.

This could force many companies, to seek out new solutions, due to the problems that they are having with open source applications. ("Open Source," 2006) When the program is combined with other applications, this can create possible legal issues down the road. Where, a programmer could be breaking the law by combining the source codes from the free applications with their own. For a business, this means that using this software, is a violation of various state and federal laws.

This is problematic, because it causes many companies to open themselves up to possible lawsuits in the future. ("Open Source," 2006) Advantages of Using the Open Source Software Despite some of the drawbacks associated with using open source applications, there are a number of distinct benefits that it offers businesses to include: lower costs, reliability and control. The lower costs are a major benefit for most companies. This is because many of the different open source programs can be purchased with little to no upfront fees.

Over the course of time, this will reduce the expenses that an entity will face when it comes to updating their different applications. (Wiles, 2011) In general, open source software is considered to be more reliable. The reason why is due to the fact that these applications are written using standard programming techniques. This means that it is more reliable and has fewer bugs. In the event that there is some kind of issue, these programs can easily be repaired by going directly to the source code.

(Wiles, 2011) Greater amounts of control can be achieved with these applications. The way that this occurs, is by giving businesses more choices about software and the kinds of features they need. Once this takes place, it means that a corporation can find a program that could be used to run various aspects of their operation over long periods of time. In the event that there is any kind of changes, these programs can easily be modified.

This is significant, because this is illustrating how it is giving businesses greater amounts of choices about what programs they can utilize. (Wiles, 2011) Clearly, a company should use open source software as a major part of their business operations. From a technology point-of-view, this will help them to easily fix any kind of bugs or modify the software. The reason why is because, these programs are written using the most standard techniques. This makes it easier to fix any kind of issues and adjust the application to specific organizations.

At the same time, these programs have fewer bugs and they are known to be more reliable than some of the other fee based applications.