Server platforms Toolkit

Does open source make good sense?

Ryan Brase Builder.com

Published: 18 Mar 2003 15:23 GMT

A lot has been said in recent years about the relative merits of open source software (OSS) vs. single-vendor, proprietary software. The sheer volume of discourse is owed in part to the disparate groups involved in the discussion. Business leaders trying to build empires are arguing with radicals trying to change the world, who in turn are cajoling project managers just trying to ship on time. I maintain that, politics aside, for most software projects, some level of openness makes good business sense.

The reasons for selecting openly specified platforms, patent-unencumbered technologies, and open source tools are numerous and unequivocal. They range from vendor flexibility to security to support to life cycle self-determinism -- and finally, to total cost of ownership. Let's look at each of those in turn.

Vendor flexibility
Using openly specified, interchangeable software when available for necessary system components frees projects from the perils of vendor lock. When the services offered by your database layer can be duplicated by any of a number of databases, you have greater flexibility in dealing with your current database vendor. When your Web server provides a standard interface for your hosted application that can be offered by many competing hosting solutions, you're free to switch if licensing, support, or defect issues arise.

When you're running a single-platform, single-server-solution system, you don't have the flexibility to move on if the situation warrants. You're stuck with nonportable code and are forced to deal with whatever bugs your chosen system includes. This lack of flexibility limits project direction and greatly increases the likelihood of project failure.

Security
Open source tools offer greater security than their proprietary counterparts. Sadly, after years of discussion, and example after example after example, there are still those who will dispute that statement. They wrongly point to the increased security defect reporting rate for open source software and equate this to a greater overall defect rate. Instead, it shows greater security consciousness within the open source development community than within the proprietary software community.

Closed source software has been responsible for all of the recent major software worm outbreaks. Proprietary software proponents would have you believe that a larger installed base makes them a juicier target. However, you only need to look at the Web server software space -- where the quantity of open source software greatly exceeds that of proprietary software -- and the mayhem caused by Microsoft's Internet Information Server and the Code Red worm it enabled to see the holes in that theory.