Source Software Many operating systems are very similar in nature. When a new fe

Question

Source Software

Many operating systems are very similar in nature. When a new feature comes out in an operating system, competing products eventually respond with a similar feature. In the open-source community, the sharing of code and ideas is the norm - as long as no one benefits financially from the communal property.

You have one attempt to complete the assignment.

1. There are many benefits to using open-source software, so why isn't everyone using it? State some advantages and disadvantages to using open source software. Support your answer with at least 2 sentences.

2. Find a current article (written withing the last three years) on the Internet discussing open-source software. Give the title, author, address, and date.

3. Summarize the articles main points ( can't find a decent article would need help finding one thats perfect for this assignment)

Explanation / Answer

Q.1 The open source software movement has sparked an incredibly rich community of collaborative software developers producing wave after wave of applications. What started as a lofty ideal has become the norm. As many as 93 percents of organizations use open source software and 78 percent run part or all of their operations on it, according to The Tenth Annual Future of Open Source Survey.

There are some very compelling reasons to adopt open source, but there are also some serious potential problems with it. We’re going to look at four of each its pros and cons.

Advantages

Free or cheap

Finding an open source version of a proprietary software package that you’ve been paying for can be a real boon for companies. Operating without the need for expensive licenses can make all the difference, especially for a small business. Open source software saves companies an enormous sum every year.

Continuous improvement

Open source software is evolving all the time as developers fix bugs, make tweaks, and add to it. There’s a larger team of people engaged in improving it and anyone can take the initiative to improve the software.

Do what you want with it

Not only can you go ahead and install it on every machine without having to worry about licensing, you can also adapt it to your needs. You can go ahead and modify it if you want to.

Not locked in

You aren’t locked into a proprietary system with a vendor designing products which are only compatible with each other. That also frees you from the vendor’s roadmap, so you’re not waiting for them to add the functionality you need all the time. Because open source software is independent of individual companies, it doesn’t necessarily matter if the original founder goes out of business or drops it, as long as there’s an active community.

Disadvantages

Hidden costs

A lot of companies are initially attracted by the fact that open source software is free, but it’s important to factor in the cost of deploying and integrating the software. You’ll also have to consider ongoing maintenance and support costs.

Learning curve

Do you have the internal expertise to work effectively with your chosen open source product? You can’t necessarily find well-documented help or get support on the phone. Open source software often isn’t user friendly because that’s not a priority for the developers. It may be necessary to hire and train to fill the skills gap.

Risk of abandonment

If key programmers lose interest or no longer have time to work on the project, then it could be abandoned quite quickly. Open source projects do sometimes die out and if you’ve invested a lot into the software it could prove to be a serious problem if the updates stop.

Security risks

Source: http://blogs.intralinks.com/

You benefit from the software is open, but that means it’s open for others too. Malicious users can view the code and look for exploits and vulnerabilities. If companies don’t take the time to analyze the open source code for security vulnerabilities and take action to mitigate them, then it’s dangerous to assume it’s safe. Ignoring security risks could lead to serious exposure.

The potential benefits of the pros outweigh the risks of the cons, which is why open source software dominates the landscape. However, it’s important to analyze on a case-by-case basis and keep security in mind. Many companies also lack a formal policy for open source use and employee contributions. In many cases adopting open source will be a smart move, but make sure your strategy is fully thought out.

Q2.

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1610/1610.00640.pdf

Q.3

Reasons Open Source Is Good for Business

With the many business and government organizations that now use open source software such as Linux, it's becoming increasingly clear that price is not the only advantage such software holds. If it were, companies that adopted it during the Great Recession would surely have switched back to the expensive proprietary stuff as soon as conditions began to ease, and that's clearly not the case.

Rather, free and open source software (FOSS) holds numerous other compelling advantages for businesses, some of them even more valuable than the software's low price. Need a few examples? Let's start counting.

1. Security

It's hard to think of a better testament to the superior security of open source software than the recent discovery by Coverity of a number of defects in the Android kernel. What's so encouraging about this discovery, as I noted the other day, is that the only reason it was possible is that the kernel code is open to public view.

Android may not be fully open source, but the example is still a perfect illustration of what's known as "Linus' Law," named for Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. According to that maxim, "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow." What that means is that the more people who can see and test a set of code, the more likely any flaws will be caught and fixed quickly. It's essentially the polar opposite of the "security through obscurity" argument used so often to justify the use of expensive proprietary products, in other words.

Does the absence of such flaw reports about the code of the iPhone or Windows mean that such products are more secure? Far from it--quite the opposite, you might even say.

All it means is that those products are closed from public view, so no one outside the companies that own them has the faintest clue how many bugs they contain. And there's no way the limited set of developers and testers within those companies can test their products as well as the worldwide community constantly scrutinizing FOSS can.

Bugs in open source software also tend to get fixed immediately, as in the case of the Linux kernel exploit uncovered not long ago.

In the proprietary world? Not so much. Microsoft, for example, typically takes weeks if not months to patch vulnerabilities such as the recently discovered Internet Explorer zero-day flaw. Good luck to all the businesses using it in the meantime.

2. Quality

Which is more likely to be better: a software package created by a handful of developers, or a software package created by thousands of developers? Just as there are countless developers and users working to improve the security of open source software, so are there just as many innovating new features and enhancements to those products.

In general, open source software gets closest to what users want because those users can have a hand in making it so. It's not a matter of the vendor giving users what it thinks they want--users and developers make what they want, and they make it well. At least one recent study has shown, in fact, that technical superiority is typically the primary reason enterprises choose open source software.

3. Customizability

Along similar lines, business users can take a piece of open source software and tweak it to suit their needs. Since the code is open, it's simply a matter of modifying it to add the functionality they want. Don't try that with proprietary software!

4. Freedom

When businesses turn to open source software, they free themselves from the severe vendor lock-in that can afflict users of proprietary packages. Customers of such vendors are at the mercy of the vendor's vision, requirements, dictates, prices, priorities and timetable, and that limits what they can do with the products they're paying for.

With FOSS, on the other hand, users are in control to make their own decisions and to do what they want with the software. They also have a worldwide community of developers and users at their disposal for help with that.

5. Flexibility

When your business uses proprietary software such as Microsoft Windowsand Office, you are on a treadmill that requires you to keep upgrading both software and hardware ad infinitum. Open source software, on the other hand, is typically much less resource-intensive, meaning that you can run it well even on older hardware. It's up to you--not some vendor--to decide when it's time to upgrade.

6. Interoperability

Open source software is much better at adhering to open standards than proprietary software is. If you value interoperability with other businesses, computers and users, and don't want to be limited by proprietary data formats, open source software is definitely the way to go.

7. Auditability

With closed source software, you have nothing but the vendor's claims telling you that they're keeping the software secure and adhering to standards, for example. It's basically a leap of faith. The visibility of the code behind open source software, however, means you can see for yourself and be confident.

8. Support Options

Open source software is generally free, and so is a world of support through the vibrant communities surrounding each piece of software. Most every Linux distribution, for instance, has an online community with excellent documentation, forums, mailing lists, forges, wikis, newsgroups and even live support chat.

For businesses that want extra assurance, there are now paid support options on most open source packages at prices that still fall far below what most proprietary vendors will charge. Providers of commercial support for open source software tend to be more responsive, too, since support is where their revenue is focused.

9. Cost

Between the purchase price of the software itself, the exorbitant cost of mandatory virus protection, support charges, ongoing upgrade expenses and the costs associated with being locked in, proprietary software takes more out of your business than you probably even realize. And for what? You can get better quality at a fraction of the price.

10. Try Before You Buy

If you're considering using open source software, it will typically cost you nothing to try it out first. This is partly due to the software's free price, and partly due to the existence of LiveCDs and Live USBs for many Linux distributions, for example. No commitment required until you're sure.

None of this is to say, of course, that your business should necessarily use open source software for everything. But with all the many benefits it holds, you'd be remiss not to consider it seriously.

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