A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

 Open-  source  software

The selection of 

 open-  source  software

 to support digital business applications is a significant 

decision for anyone managing technology infrastructure for a company.  Open-  source software 

is now significant in many categories relevant to digital business, including operating systems, 

browsers, web servers, office applications and content management systems (including blogs).

The Open Source Organisation (www.opensource.org) explains its benefits as follows:

The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redis‑

tribute, 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.

We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process 

produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few pro‑

grammers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits.

Table 3.5 summarises some of the main advantages and disadvantages of  open-  source 

software. To gain an appreciation of the issues faced by a technical manager pondering the 

 open-  source dilemma, complete Activity 3.4.