Open Source Software – The IT Answer To The Recession Problem!
Open Source Software – The IT Answer To The Recession Problem!
While the tech suppliers all over the world are not too happy with the negative developments in the economy open source software providers are seizing the opportunity. Most companies are tightening their purse strings when it comes to spending on new software or updates of the old ones. Many of these companies, both large and small, have an alternative solution – open source software!
Open source software is software that is free to install and use. There are no strings attached to using this software except perhaps having to credit the source. This software can be altered easily by software engineers who can customise the software at relatively low cost. Most of this software is easily available on the net available to be downloaded for free.
On the 24th March, CEO of Linux Provider Novell, Ron Hovsepian stated that the downturn of the economy will prove to be good for open source software. Ron was speaking at the Open Source Business Conference. Ron added that businesses fighting for survival against budget restrictions should consider turning to open source software solutions. Open source software providers make their profits from implementation, support services and consultation.
The outgoing executive of Sun and former CEO at MySQL, Marten Mikos noted that there are many great open source applications available and added that customers buy on low price, so in a recession, open source is a much more attractive proposition for both the applications and the cost of development. CEO of SugarCRM, John Roberts agreed with him adding that business owners are reconsidering the value proposition saying that it is difficult to create unique value software that is 100 percent proprietary.
The panellists of the conference debated the fact that open source software is growing more and more complex. They were of the opinion that open source software can succeed if there is a community of users who provide support right from the installation to the customising of the software. Many open source software providers have forums where users of the software provide support to fellow users. There are some very popular open source programs such as Firefox that can be tweaked to suit individual preferences.
As the owner of two IT companies, Gold Coast Premium Website Design company i4U and Tourism Internet Marketing company eTourism I can vouch for open source because both these companies are run on open source software. We have successfully implemented open source software that run our development and production servers as well as our mail servers. We have also implemented an open source PABX, Asterisk and use SugarCRM to manage our customer relationships. All our web browsers are open source as well as some of our general administration software including blogging software Wordpress.
I cannot agree more with the panellists of the conference that open source software is the answer to the software requirements of all businesses. I cannot have greater faith in open source software than I have gained through the practical use of open source software.
Perhaps this recession will consolidate people’s faith in open source software by forcing them to resort to freeware, something they’ve never had much faith or interest in to date. But now in these difficult economic times, when they are forced to use open source software, they may realize the true potential of freeware.
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