What is the main benefit of open source?

The short answer is that open source reduces the cost of software. It is widely accepted that software is a necessary cost of doing business in today's environment. Therefore, it is beneficial for companies to find ways to acquire software that minimizes that cost.

I believe that the open source development model is the most efficient way to create software. In the traditional software development model, each software company creates an isolated software silo. Meanwhile, their competitors are spending resources to create software that does almost the exact same function! Compare that to the open source model, where worldwide resources can be shared to develop an application.

Similar to the "invisible hand" of capitalism, there is an "invisible hand" of open source software. The idea is that when each individual works for their own benefit (fix bugs, add new features), it will benefit the entire community. When you have thousands of people doing this it allows open source software to quickly mature into a stable product, and includes features that are most wanted by users of the software.

Comments

  1. Josef Assad9/27/2007 4:36 PM

    So in your opinion, the fact that the user of open source saves a few bucks is more important than the ideological advantages (which can also be translated to clear non-ideological advantages, i.e. business edge)? I think not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tristan Rhodes9/27/2007 4:46 PM

    I think the open source ideals are what enable it to efficiently produce software.

    The ideals are the means, not the end. Why do people use software? Not for the ideals, but because they need the software to do something.

    So I agree that ideals are important, but not the end-goal. And without ideals we could not achieve that goal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rob J. Caskey9/27/2007 5:36 PM

    I'm gonna go with big-picture TCO reduction: FOSS lets companies that are ALREADY writing software get something by giving something.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9/28/2007 10:35 PM

    I have made a similar observation in my post

    http://www.krishworld.com/blog/open-source/open-source-how-both-capitalists-and-communists-got-it-wrong/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9/28/2007 10:37 PM

    Oops sorry. The link got cut up. Click here for the link.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tristan Rhodes10/01/2007 2:36 PM

    Josef,

    Thanks for your comment. You got thinking more about this topic and I have realized that there are some benefits unique to the freedoms that open source offers. I will be working on a follow-up post that includes the benefits of freedom.

    Thanks,

    Tristan

    ReplyDelete
  7. maxolasersquad10/09/2007 2:22 PM

    Software licensing is a big deal in large companies as well. Maintaining a trail of how many licenses you have (and proving that you really do have them) and tracking how many installs you have is something that takes a lot of resources. Open Source software gives you a sort of EA agreement with your software. This frees a lot of resources in your organization.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tristan Rhodes10/09/2007 2:47 PM

    Maxo,

    I agree. How many resources are wasted managing a license server, auditing licenses, and documenting licenses. That is unheard of with open source!

    Tristan

    ReplyDelete

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