Open Source

Most software, computer based or web based, bought, downloaded or installed by anyone is usually a collection of files containing lines of code in a given programming language(C, C++, PHP, ASP, etc…). Under its most common form, software is proprietary and protected with copyright enforcing its use under certain restrictive conditions. It usually comes as a compiled executable file – just a program file that has been prepackaged as a sequence of 0 and 1 that can only be understood by a specific operating system or platform (For example: Windows is a platform and Microsoft Office is a compiled executable program). In such a format, it becomes impossible to recover source files: that is one of the ways manufacturers used to deal with copy, replication of code and competition in the “traditional” software industry.

 

Difference between “customer lock-in” and open source

Such practice is known as “customer lock-in” since modification, update and extension of locked software necessarily has to go through its manufacturer who is the exclusive owner of the program source code. Learn more about vendor lock-in.

 

On the opposite, the concept of Open Source software gives free access to the source code of software and tries to leverage software quality by stirring the community’s input through modifications of code, creation of security patches and extension with new functionalities. From the beginning of the 90’s with the first Linux distributions to nowadays, the Open Source community has exponentially grown to become known today as a reference in numerous sectors.

 

Besides providing software source code, Open Source is generally either very cheap or completely free. As the Open Source community started growing, software quality started improving and getting closer to what traditional software vendors could be selling for high prices. Therefore, people started looking at alternatives and eventually massively turning to Open Source solutions. That’s how institutions such as the French government, the French army and police (Gendarmerie Française) chose to switch their entire systems to Linux (Open Source operating system) and began using Open Office (The well known Open Source alternative to Microsoft Office), which represents a switch of 400,000 computers.

 

At that point software manufacturers discovered that traditional business model had to evolve and Open Source software’s value became more and more visible to the commercial world. Some companies such as Red Hat sell their software as part of a package with many improvements and provide maintenance and support service.

 

To be considered as open source software by the software development industry, certain criteria must be met:

  • The program must be freely distributed.
  • Source code must be included.
  • Source code can be freely modified.
  • Modified versions can be redistributed.
  • The license must not require the exclusion of other software or interfere with the operation of other software.

 

The open source community is made of “believers” who intend to provide at least the same product quality and functionalities than proprietary software. Open source software is more often easy to keep up to date as independent developers provide steady upgrades and modules.

 

 

Some famous open source projects

 


Audacity
Audio editor
 
Blender
3d Creation
 
Drupal
CMS
 
Firefox
Web Browser
 
FileZilla
FTP Client
 
Joomla!
CMS
 
phpBB
Forum System
 

MySQL
Database
Open Office
Office suite
php
Programming
ThunderBird
eMail Client
Ubuntu
Operating system
VLC
Video player
WordPress
Blog platform

 

 


The Open Source Initiative

Created in 1998 from a subdivision of the Open Source software Community, the Open Source Initiative proposed a commercial policy adjusted to the market reality. This trend also advocates free access to source code, so their business model is not based on user licenses but on the support and services provided around those technologies. Besides Linux, Mozilla (Netscape browser core), Apache (Web server), PERL (Web scripting language) and PNG (graphics file format) are all examples of very popular software that is based on open source.

 

 

Davyin Internet Solutions is a firm believer in Open Source technologies and advocates the use of Open Source software worldwide. Since we don’t believe in technological lock-in, our work is entirely based on Open Source technologies which guarantee our transparency and flexibility to enable our customers to make the most value out of the Open Source.