Do you think Open Source Software Has Made Deep Inroads Into SMB’s Only? Not Necessarily
So, you get a feel that maybe Open Source Software(OSS) is something that only SMB’s would go in for as they give them a profoundly big bang for their buck. However from interactions with open source pioneers, I got to know that many large enterprises including government agencies are flocking to open source software in lieu of the proprietary ones.
While the SMB’s might be relying on the open source services for bringing down the total cost of ownership and increasing ease of use, the big enterprises establish a professional setup to work on the Open Source project to customize and enhance it as per their mission critical needs and even contribute back to the open source community on the way.
The evolution of the Open Source projects, the community interest in them and improvements in flexibility, significant cost saving capability and security of the OSS also reinforces the faith of bigger enterprises to adopt OSS. Today, Open Source software has good alternatives for almost every commercial proprietary software systems in the market. In this regards, do you think open source software can equate the performance of commercial proprietary software? Well, in most cases they do or even surpass. For instance, The Coverity Scan Service, which analyses more than 450 million lines of software code, recently reveals that the quality of open source software continues to shadows many home-grown and legacy software systems.
There are many such commercial products built on top of popular successful Open Source projects that come out as a mid-way solution in terms of lowering cost and meet best of the expected performance, like EnterpriseDB based on Postgres. Leave apart enterprises, big or small, at individual level also we are surrounded with OSS in abundance. How many of you are browsing the net on a Mozilla Firefox browser or on an Android based device?
While some might argue that Android is not a true Open Source Solution, but it indeed is the first step towards the Open Source Mobile operating software systems. And, there is Mozilla FireFox OS coming your way that probably will satisfy all the criterion of a true Open Source OS.
I believe that in almost every vertical, the adoption of Open Source Software is evolving continuously in terms of technology, speed, quality and security, and becoming the preferred choice, not just an alternative to commercial software. What do you think? If you would like to take this discussion deeply or need an open source consultant you can rely on, then OSSCube is just a call away.
OSSCube is a leading global Open Source Software focused company, providing an integrated value chain of services encompassing mission critical application development, product customization and implementation, consulting and training services, on open source products and technologies, delivered through its principal locations spread across North America, the UK & India.