For what reasons might an organization be interested in open source software? One of the more frequently touted benefits is cost. The proprietary crowd has put a fair amount of publicity into studies that argue open source actually results in a higher total cost of ownership. These studies consider a number of factors like paying for support, upgrade and maintenance costs, licensing fees, and implementation and migration costs; often these become points of contention. In these areas there is a likely cost advantage presented by open source and the following highlights a number of reasons why, at least in principle, an advantage with FOSS is possible.
Licensing
A proprietary software product is often sold in a way that puts certain post-purchase restrictions on its usage. Namely, when it is sold such that each license is treated like a unit of a good (a box of software or instance of software). Many proprietary software vendors would say that software licensing entails the purchaser/user to pay attention to requirements on deployment eligibility, transferring software to others, sometimes even downgrading the software version. Thus, an organization could have to pay for a license every time it needs an instance of the software installed.
Open source products can sometimes be purchased in a similar way but open source licensing does not necessarily treat the software like a unit of a good that must be attained over and over. Rather, open source licenses recognize the infinite reproducibility of software and do not prevent a company from making and distributing its own copies of the software. Thus on a large scale rollout, a company could realize major cost savings just in licensing.
Migration and Vendor Lock-In
Migration costs could be an issue for switching to FOSS platforms. It may become a significant expense to migrate from one type of system to another (considering the data, user training, and other changes). A proprietary system however, still brings with it a range of costs when upgrading from one version to the next (often similar sorts of data migration, user training, and maintenance work). Upgrading open source software does not necessarily entail the vendor lock-in that proprietary solutions do. From the customer's standpoint, there may be multiple sources that can provide patches and updates. Consider operating systems—there are many distributions (varieties) of Linux. Each distribution has its own characteristic strengths and weaknesses but is essentially capable of providing the same functionality. Besides, why does an organization consider migrating to open source in the first place? Some reasons often cited include benefits in up-time stability (the famous Netcraft uptime surveys are one example, showing that the most reliable web host providers are usually based on open source platforms), security, and improved safety from viral infections, which over time could ultimately outweigh FOSS migration expenses.
Support
Paying for knnowledgeable support personnel might seem like a current point in favor of some proprietary solutions. Considering just server operating systems, professionals with Microsoft certifications probably outnumber those with some type of certified Linux training. As demand for Linux continues to increase, demand for Linux support ought to increase, so the number of trained professionals will need to grow. FOSS providing companies such as Red Hat and Novell both offer specialized training and certifications, plus there are independent organizations offering training, such as the Linux Professional Institute.
Licensing
A proprietary software product is often sold in a way that puts certain post-purchase restrictions on its usage. Namely, when it is sold such that each license is treated like a unit of a good (a box of software or instance of software). Many proprietary software vendors would say that software licensing entails the purchaser/user to pay attention to requirements on deployment eligibility, transferring software to others, sometimes even downgrading the software version. Thus, an organization could have to pay for a license every time it needs an instance of the software installed.
Open source products can sometimes be purchased in a similar way but open source licensing does not necessarily treat the software like a unit of a good that must be attained over and over. Rather, open source licenses recognize the infinite reproducibility of software and do not prevent a company from making and distributing its own copies of the software. Thus on a large scale rollout, a company could realize major cost savings just in licensing.
Migration and Vendor Lock-In
Migration costs could be an issue for switching to FOSS platforms. It may become a significant expense to migrate from one type of system to another (considering the data, user training, and other changes). A proprietary system however, still brings with it a range of costs when upgrading from one version to the next (often similar sorts of data migration, user training, and maintenance work). Upgrading open source software does not necessarily entail the vendor lock-in that proprietary solutions do. From the customer's standpoint, there may be multiple sources that can provide patches and updates. Consider operating systems—there are many distributions (varieties) of Linux. Each distribution has its own characteristic strengths and weaknesses but is essentially capable of providing the same functionality. Besides, why does an organization consider migrating to open source in the first place? Some reasons often cited include benefits in up-time stability (the famous Netcraft uptime surveys are one example, showing that the most reliable web host providers are usually based on open source platforms), security, and improved safety from viral infections, which over time could ultimately outweigh FOSS migration expenses.
Support
Paying for knnowledgeable support personnel might seem like a current point in favor of some proprietary solutions. Considering just server operating systems, professionals with Microsoft certifications probably outnumber those with some type of certified Linux training. As demand for Linux continues to increase, demand for Linux support ought to increase, so the number of trained professionals will need to grow. FOSS providing companies such as Red Hat and Novell both offer specialized training and certifications, plus there are independent organizations offering training, such as the Linux Professional Institute.
No comments:
Post a Comment