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Open Source Software, Essay Example

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Open source software is defined as “software for which the human-readable source code is available for use, study, reuse, modification, enhancement, and redistribution by the users of that software” (Kennedy 42). Many organizations around the globe have adopted open source software after realizing optimal cost savings associated with information technology expenditures. One example includes Amazon .com minimizing information technology expenditures from $71 million to $54 million by replacing their business automation software with open source applications. Similarly, sabre holdings were able to save more than $10 billion dollars by deploying MySQL that is an open source database. As these open source software are free of cost, organizations started replacing legacy systems with open source products. This trend has forced hardware and software vendors along with proprietary technology vendors to offer value added services associated with open source products. For example, an open source enterprise resource planning application for Small medium business can be a cost saving alternative for expensive ERP systems such as SAP and Oracle. However, the existence of these open source applications does not ensure proficient after sales or maintenance support and their functionality that can be catered by a consultant or advisory service. Likewise, these open source software are volunteered without proper marketing strategies possibly because of their low budget. A comparison between an open source application and MS office is demonstrated in Table 1.1 below

	An Open-Source Software	A Commercial Software
Comparitive Variables	Open Office	Microsoft Office 2010
Extent of Use	Recently celebrated its 100 millionth download since version 3.0	Microsoft’s 20-year old Office, in its latest beta incarnation
User’s Category	Smaller businesses with fewer tech assets	Big Commercial Organizations
Latest Version	Open Office 3.2 was released offering a few more features	Microsoft’s Office 2010 suite was still in beta
Some New Features	Open Office remains the basic, uncluttered suite of applications that it has always been. However, a noteworthy feature is Open Office’s subscription to the International Organization for Standardization, which ensures its ability to read and write in other formats. Naturally, this includes Microsoft’s.	Among some new functions, one can now edit media within Power Point and Word; Users are also able to export to PDF format, a feature previously unavailable. Other new features include the ‘Paste preview’ function and a much more polished version of its Web Apps service.
Dependence	Not as far reaching in its compatibility with other systems as the Microsoft has been.	If one is stuck away from the office, he or she can use any internet café to polish up that presentation or amend his/her spread sheet etc.
Ease of Installation	For the small business users, as the suite is readily available it can be installed very quickly on any broadband-enabled workstation. So being out of the office needn’t affect your productivity with either offering.(Open Office seems to have a heavier CPU though currently lighter on features	Comparatively requires a higher level of technical support to install the equipment.
Speed	Open Office is comparatively more agile than the Microsoft though lacks many of the bells and whistles of its counterpart	Operates well on lower-end hardware, with Microsoft’s Windows 7
System Requirements	Open Office marches ahead, demanding only 450MB of hard disk space over Microsoft Office’s 3GB. This could prove to be a telling factor in laptop and ultra-mobile installations.	Disc space much larger than the Open Office requirements.
Performance	Is comparatively much more slower than the Microsoft Office, though is said to be more stable and a mature suite of its applications	Experiments showed that Microsoft Office 2010 suite opened its applications in a much quicker time than the Open Office i.e. about one tenth of the time taken by the former.
Ease of Obtaining	It is easy to get hold of Open Office, provided one has a web connection.	Office 2010 is a slightly more mixed up affair, but yet not very complex. One obviously needs licenses and multi-user permits.

Table 1.1

After discussing benefits for open source software, we will now discuss the barriers for organizations adopting open source software. The first factor is the knowledge barrier, as discussed before, lack of available support, consultants, customization and lack of business knowledge for aligning the application with business objectives. The second barrier is a lack of integration with the legacy software and hardware. Likewise, Forking is another barrier because open source software is coded by different groups of people and may not integrate with other open source software. Moreover, the technology associated with open source software is immature i.e. not tested nor does it have a successful history. However, in order to overcome these challenges, organizations must train their staff and hire third party support and maintenance services. Moreover, for eliminating integration issues with legacy systems, middleware can be used for supporting integration functions. Furthermore, for addressing forking, self-resolving capabilities with the aid of self-managed standards is required. In addition, to address software immaturity, organizations must follow open source software maturity models and white papers for proper evaluation.