Open Source Software Should a Company Select Essay

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Open Source Software

Should a company select proprietary, open source, or free software for its most important business information systems?

All companies should be using open source applications. This is when they will be able to download programs (for free) to run certain aspects of their business. This basic idea behind this strategy is to dramatically reduce the underlying costs that they are paying for IT solutions. As a result, the total number of companies utilizing these applications, to run various functions for their business has been rising dramatically. Evidence of this can be seen with a study that was conducted by Forrester Research. They found that the total amount of companies they surveyed using these applications was 52%. Furthermore, researchers determined that businesses should be utilizing these kinds of applications to run major aspects of their operations. (Wheeler, 2007) This is significant, because it is highlighting why a wide variety of companies that have begun switching to open source applications.

However, when it comes to these areas, most are hesitant about using these kinds of software solutions on a large scale. This is problematic, because it means that many companies are spending far more than they should on addressing their different technology issues. As a result, all businesses must examine the underlying risks that are associated with these programs and benefits. Once this occurs, it will provide specific insights about how open source software, can help all businesses to streamline their operations through: the use of these applications.

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Drawbacks of Using Open Source Software

The biggest drawbacks of using open source software include: there are no warranties and it can be combined with other applications. The lack of warranties on these kinds of programs means, that anyone who is using software can run into a number of problems or errors. For a business, this can be time consuming as it will cause them to have no way to quickly fix the issues. This could force many companies, to seek out new solutions, due to the problems that they are having with open source applications. ("Open Source," 2006)

When the program is combined with other applications, this can create possible legal issues down the road. Where, a programmer could be breaking the law by combining the source codes from the free applications with their own. For a business, this means that using this software, is a violation of various state and federal laws. This is problematic, because it causes many companies to open themselves up to possible lawsuits in the future. ("Open Source," 2006)

Advantages of Using the Open Source Software

Despite some of the drawbacks associated with using open source applications, there are a number of distinct benefits that it offers businesses to include: lower costs, reliability and control. The lower costs are a major benefit for most companies. This is because many of the different open source programs….....

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