Open source software is on a roll. The Open Source Census, a nonprofit group that tracks the technology’s adoption, has found more than 300,000 product installations worldwide. The concept is making inroads at enterprises ranging in size from single employee start-ups to multinational corporations. Here’s why small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly turning to open source.
Lower cost
Cost savings is usually the biggest lure. Since open source tools are generally available at little or no cost, savings can mount rapidly. From an ROI standpoint, it makes sense to take money earmarked for proprietary software licensing and apply it to inventory, health care or other business needs.
For example, if a typical desktop computer installation costs $1,500, a business might spend $150 or more on software. The cost to install Microsoft Windows Vista might be $50; Microsoft Office, $60; and anti-virus software, $40. For a company with 200 computers, this translates into a not-so-insignificant expenditure of $30,000. By installing open source software, much of that cost can be eliminated.
Availability
Open source reaches into just about every business software area. Businesses making the switch can select from highly capable offerings in operating systems, office productivity applications, utility and security tools, software development and even in areas they may have never considered, such as public branch exchange (PBX) phone systems.
Adaptability
Most proprietary software vendors don’t like customers messing with their products. Open source suppliers, however, actually encourage adopters to change and experiment with their offerings, since that’s how new features get developed. With open source, companies are free to install, modify and redistribute their software and use whatever version they prefer without having to worry about vendor intimidation or retribution.
Flexibility
Open source software allows for greater flexibility in long-term planning, since adopters are free from vendor lock-in, including forced upgrades and licensing issues. With open source, software audit worries are a thing of the past.
Stability
Proprietary software vendors are free to increase prices, switch strategies, discontinue product lines or even go out of business, leaving users at a loss for updates, support and other vital services. With their extensive developer and user communities, open source initiatives have strong and resilient foundations that resist market and financial forces. Additionally, since the user has the source code, a solution can never be bought or merged out of existence, meaning the software investment lasts as long as it’s needed.
Reliability
Open source has achieved a high level of technology maturity. The most widely used products are now generally recognized to be as reliable as their proprietary counterparts and, in many cases, even more capable. While commercial software publishers primarily rely on their own employees to create and refine their products, open source initiatives routinely tap into independent minds worldwide to generate new software concepts, improvements and fixes.
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