Principle Of Open Source Software

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Abstract

This report about a study on the introduction of open source (OSS) and open standard source software in a public administration and business community to all. The public administration and business community decides to introduce OSS as means to save on the licence cost and to have a larger space for customisation purposes.

This report will focus on the complex issues on how people adopt open source software. Due to the rapid provisional technological change, we have not had time to recess and concentrate on how software should be created. On this report we are going to discuss the introduction of open source software including the principle of open source software.

Also through this report we explained on how users or customers are beneficial with open source software that will help them adopt environment. Also through report we discuss about open standard which deal with data and file format of the application or software, including the briefly explanations on how open standard software emerge on this era. Finally, we discuss the advantages and disadvantage of open source, clarification and solutions to these issues will be discussed.

Introduction

The free software movement was started in 1983 but was later called open source software because it is more attractive to the cooperate world. The main goal of established open source is to left the finished product be modifiable, more understandable and accessible while still in market.

Briefly open source software is applications software provided for use, modification and can redistribution. Open source software has no restriction from user from copyright holder regarding modifications of the software’s internal instructions and its redistribution. While open standard software refers to the software that performs specific functions in order to arching the specific task. It is a set of promises about some feature of a software system that concerns interoperability or compatibility which is almost data format.

Open source software can be downloaded from the internet, often is free no charge will be imposed to the user and its more flexible compare to standard source software. For example some of the more popular open source software includes Linux, Apache and MySQL, Mozilla. While open standard software the organization may use programmers to develop the software or to buy software in another organization which is usually more expensive. For example project management software, accounting software and etc.

Open Source Software

The term open source software refers to the idea that the source code of a software application is accessible to users, who may change source code. This differs from copyrighted software, where source code is not agreeably available and the user is not able to change anything about software. (Amant and Still, 2007) Open source does not essentially imply that the software is free, it may be sold to customers but its source code also must be available to them.

A thorough definition of open/free source has been established by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) which includes details about how open source software should be created, distributed and licensed to uses/customers. For example of open source software Firefox, window Linux, an open office which contain a set of word processing, excel, picture drawing and data base access and etc. (Amant and Still, 2007)

So to conclude open source software, is the software’s that is available under licence gives users/customer’s freedom to copy the application or source code, user can modify the whole application without any rules and users can redistribute application to other source.

Principle of Open Source Software

In order the open source software to licenced, modifiable and redistribution, below are the open source software criteria must be followed.

Free Redistribution

The licence should not be restricting any party from giving or selling away the software as element of an aggregate software supply containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require users/customers to pay fee for such sale.(Fogel, 2009)

Derived Work

The license must allow user to modify content of the software and derived works, also the software vendor must allow users/customers to distribute software/application under the same terms as the license of the original software.

Distribution of license

The rights attached to the software must apply to all to whom the software is redistributed without the need for execution of an extra license by those parties. .(Fogel, 2009)

Source Code

The software must include source code, which will allow user to modifiable the content and distribution the source code as well as compiled form.

License must not restrict other software

The license must not place precincts on other software that is spread along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not contend that all other software distributed on the same medium must be open source software.

Importance of open source software

In this day and present, software market become unstable, it’s less practical to purchase expensive software that will cost users/company a thousand of money. Open-source software isn’t totally 100% free, but it will always be cheap compare with custom software or others, below are some importance that help user to adopt with open source software.

Open-Source Software Is Community-Oriented

Open-source software is community based, and adopts a popular approach to development. As such, not one company or individual has the ability to control the applications. However, this increases the software competitive market, allowing users to have a greater amount of choice with fairer pricing. Updates, edit the software and services are far more frequent with open source application products because of this (Fogel, 2009). One among the greatest features of open source software is that you can contribute to the product. You can check the source code and see its mechanisms. Some open-source software is licensed with Apache, meaning that you can then distribute your modified version any time to any other source.(Schaarschmidt, 2012)

The Speed at Which Technology Is Changing

With technology, and successively our needs as users changing at such a rapid place, we expect our application to be adaptable and more flexible to accommodate us consequently. Open source software allows users/customers to change vendors at any time, if users no longer happy with the software or service provided, or user can refer to something unlike, that’s perfectly okay.(The Importance of Open-Source Software for Young Professionals, 2013)

Open-Source Software is Cheap

Normally there are no licensing fees while dealing with open source application/software. The internet has become more reliable on a peer-to-peer based system, and open source software embraces that. User can share application with friends; can try out applications, and change the source code into something that is uniquely becomes yours. .(The Importance of Open-Source Software for Young Professionals, 2013)

Advantages of open source software

Possibly the biggest advantages of open source software is the fact that everybody has the right to modify and tweak the source code. This means the code can be implemented in other pieces of software and adapted to changing environments.

The availability of source code and the right to modify

The open source software is created according to organization demands, but allows for upgrades to take place freely when the need arises. Therefore, if bugs in the codes are found, they can be fixed by anyone interested and capable. Fixes and patches to rectify the bugs are rapidly developed. (CloudTweaks, 2013)

Free to use open source software

Open-source software is free to use, distribute, and everybody has the right to modify and tweak the source code. This implies that the code can be applied in other pieces of software and it can be adapted to various environments. It has lower costs, and in most cases this is only a fraction of the cost of their proprietary counterparts. (CloudTweaks, 2013)

Does not depend on vendor

Open source software is not dependent on the author who originally created the software. If developer fails to upgrade the software, the codes will continue to exist and develop by its users.

Source code is more secured

Open-source software is more secured as the code is available to everyone. Anytime and anyone can fix errors as they are found without wait for next release. The fact that is always analysed by a large community produces secure and stable code. (CloudTweaks, 2013)

Disadvantage of Open Source

There is no doubt in this era; open source software has taken the world by storm. Open source is organising the revolution to bring about a change in the world order, where the environment is free, conducive and constructive. However every has pitfall and among the as can be seen below.

Open source provide restricted choice

Open software provide a dozen of propriety software available for every variety of function and use. In evaluation, there are very few from the Open Source side, furthermore, they do not always have top-class functionality, most of the open source have poor user interfaces.(Reijswoud, 2008)

Open source software lead to piracy

Nowadays, animation, music, and movies are released on the internet much before their official release, this occur mostly on p2p network and torrent. All this occur because of open source software which is done in the name of promotion and distribution of ‘free and open information. (Reijswoud, 2008)

Open source software is not consumer oriented

This it happen nowadays, once the software is made, the developer they don’t make any maintenance to the software. Even if there is bugs and reported on public forum. They don’t fix. Also the developers they don’t follow the main release with patches to fix the program or make it more accessible.

Open source software commoditises developer

When most of the application/software available on free, it basically diminishes the role and efforts of the programmer. Although the source and foresight is noble, at the end of the days, the authors are not paid for their creations of software. (Reijswoud, 2008)

Open standard software

Open standard it doesn’t have specific definition, but almost we can say open standard are specification for developing software but open source software is also approach for developing software. Open source is based on the idea of design the source code for application or software which is publicly available.

OSS typically relies upon and makes use of open standard. Proprietary software is an alternative development model for open source software, but even proprietary software can utilize open standard, in short an open standard policy should not affect the choice of a particular vendor because both proprietary software and open source development model can support open standard software.(Ã…gerfalk et al., 2010)

Open standard polices are closely linked to decision regarding open source, once an open standard exist it is possible for OSS solution to compete with propriety one. To conclude that the most important things in open standard software are data format, user can modify the data and redistribute to another source, and because it is standard, the data format must support for all software available to users or customers.

Rise of the Open standard software

In the 1980s, computing technology started to become unsatisfied, with much more different horizontal structures. With vendors' copyrighted architectures, it was very difficult to interface data and communications between computer systems. But this situation led in turn to greater degrees of interoperability, modularization, and the growth of a marketplace for peripherals. The net outcome was an increase in the rate of invention, greater value for customers, and some loss of account control by hardware sellers. The application/software side of the equation also saw horizontal unsatisfied. (Ã…gerfalk et al., 2010) Most of the platforms started to become much more common and independent of hardware platforms.

These progresses started to strength standardization, which became vital in the effort to achievement networking technology and the rising use of the Internet. The potential for computers to link with each other and for great stores of data to be virtualized was based on simple and standardized communications.

While in the previous, it may have been likely for a business to be an HP, sun shop or IBM, it eventually become difficult for anyone industry/company to control the interfaces that ran the world's nets (network). On 1990s, (Kesan et al., 2011) the number of major companies/Industry made strategic conclusions to embrace this development toward open standards. This development has been good news for clients of IT and the IT industry/companies in general.

Industries and companies are starting to embrace open standards as a means of confirming degrees of flexibility and seller freedom. Many sellers have also incorporated open standards, often because their character in the environment as a provider of horizontal infrastructure or networking ability necessitates it. It's also the wish of such industries/companies to contribute in software markets dominated by other companies who use their market position to promote their branded interfaces. (Ã…gerfalk et al., 2010) Also businesses have been able to apply control over software design interfaces and document formats to defend their market positions.

Importance of Open standard software

The presence of open standard software is provides better protection of the data files created by an application against obsolescence of the software. So if an application follows the open standard format, it will be easier to convert the data of old version so that the new application can use it.

Also the one among the benefit of open standard, the application are easier import/export from one operation system to another since the technical operation follows the known rules and guideline. Additionally the skills learned from one operating system to another can be operated with possibly less re-training.

The benefit of obtained or using file format and data whose specification are freely published and widely available can’t be over emphasized. (Kesan et al., 2011) Mainly with respect to an institute that holds huge amounts of data/information which is stored electronically. For example government, they stored huge amount data, so if the data format are not known, they may find difficult to migrate data from one platform to another and impossible to convert data from source to another.

We conclude to say open standard is more important, because even open source software must follow the open standard data format that will help users to manipulate the data, transfer data from one place to another and even to understand and learn from it.

Future Enhancement

Nowadays open source software becomes more popularity; it’s self-become the future of the software world. All this occur because it provides people a new direction of technology. But users they don’t know the best part about technology is the brain part where by people can share or contribute towards its improvement. It possible for open source software’s to be better software’s rather than system written by group of people setting in the industries or companies.

Window Linux is one among the best open source software which has crushed the monopoly of the Microsoft Company. From analysis we discovered most of the android mobile application based on Linux system which activated every day, And how wonderful today most of the super computer operate Linux software like Google and other popular website like twitter and etc.

So we conclude by saying that, open source software is the largest collaborative development project in the history of computing as it is established across the world.

Conclusion

Open source software is not always free; it is just cheap if we compare with custom software and all other closed source. Despite of a certain pitfall over open source software, still it continue win the hearts of trillion people/users when it come in computing. It is and will continue remain the future of open source software because of the revolution it has brought into not only technical but other businesses or industries too.

Even thought, not all open source support technical support so may lack dedicated technical support, but it is more beneficial to users/customers of it expansion and the ability to modify and redistribute the software as needed.

Also programmer under open source software can be confident on what they are producing, which will contribute positively for the greatest number of society. Also the Open Source public is very active, all clients, whether software designs, working on documentation all can be seen they are contributing to the greater noble. So it is nice to have open source because no many people can afford expensive software.