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Articles

› Using the Internet to Grow Your Business
› What is open source?
› Ruby on Rails
› Evaluating Open Source Solutions
› Finding Open Source Software

Case StudiesOpen Source Solutions

open source
What is Open Source Software?
Open Source software gives users the permission to use, change, and improve software code and then to redistribute it. In practice this means that the licence to use very powerful applications (e.g. the Mozilla Firefox web browser or the Joomla Content Management System) can be obtained for free.

Open Source software is often developed by groups of technical experts who are either opposed to the power of proprietary software developers or who wish to express their abilities to their peers.

Key Benefits
The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.

Another core benefit of Open Source is how it is created. In the traditional closed source world the programme code is worked on by a limited set of people. This can often result in the developers not seeing errors and overlooking problems. The collaborative nature of Open Source development means that a much wider peer group is involved in design and testing of software.

Open Source software can also be more reflective of "real" user requirements. Proprietary software may contain many features that are there simply to encourage (or demand) purchase even though purchasers may only use a fraction of the functionality available.

Using Open Source Software
A free licence does not always mean that using Open Source software will be free. Support is usually provided through web-based manuals and forums, which vary in their usability for non-technical people. This means that if you do not have technical staff on hand you may have to pay for specific support.

For more complicated applications (such as vTiger CRM) it is likely that you would need specific expertise to implement the software from both a technical and a business perspective. Although to be fair this would be the case for proprietary software too.

Check out our articles on Open Source software or get in contact for more information.

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