Disadvantages of open source software

Contrary to the popular beliefs the open source software is not as free as it seems. In fact sometimes it can prove to be more expensive than the commercial software. Here are a few reasons that caution most of the serious organizations to steer clear of open source software applications:

• Most open source software applications are not reliable
• No support exists for open source software
• Higher installation costs
• No guarantee of updates

For more detail information click the link below:
http://blog.ecomsolutions.net/index.php/2007/12/18/disadvantages-of-open-source-software

5 Open Source Server Technology

There have many open source server technology use in our real life. Almost the software project pair well with linux. And then many people thinking the technologies for open source servers is limited to Linux distribution. Now the software for open source servers was no longer refers to Linux environments. Now, open source servers now cross all operating system boundaries. There are 10 open source technologies:

1)Zenoss - Zenoss is an open source IT Management suite. The main purpose to monitor and observe the entire network. It consists of an alert console, network discovery, performance monitoring, service monitoring and inventory modules. It is free, easy intall and maintain.

2)Mono - Mono is the open source technology implementation from Microsoft.

3)Apache - Apache is the most popular Web server and most powerful open source software in the world.

4)MySQL - MySQL is a most popular open source database software in this world, It is available for almost any operating system. MySQL powers business applications, Internet sites and enterprise tools.

5)Java - Java technologies have powered enterprise applications since 1995. Java is a technology to watch and embrace for all levels of enterprise use.

Online reference:
http://www.serverwatch.com/trends/article.php/3865716/10-Open-Source-Server-Technologies-You-Need-to-Know.htm

Advantages of open source software

The first perceived advantage of open source models is the fact that open source software is made available gratis or at a low cost. But this characteristic is not exclusive to open source software, and several proprietary software products are made available in similar ways (a prominent case could be Microsoft's Internet Explorer). What really distinguishes open source software from software available without fee is the combination of effects due to the characteristics. All of them combined produce a synergistic impact which is the cause of the real advantages of the open source model.

Important characteristics turns into advantages:

• Availability of source code and rights to modify
• Rights to redistribute modifications and improvement to the code
• Rights to use the software in any way

For more detail information about the advantages of open source software can go to the link below:
http://eu.conecta.it/paper/Advantages_open_source_soft.html

Why Open Source Software is better?

Open Source is considered as a type of software which is for free distribution, free improvement and use of any person wishing to comply with software license. While, commercial software is developed by programmers to sell for a revenue and patent or a copyright are applied in order to prevent other company's programmers from stealing their software.

There are few reasons why Open Source Software is better than Commercial Software:
(a) Open Source Software has a continuous features and releases.
New features and enhancements of software are released in order to sustain the needs and demands of users and then contributed back to the community.

(b) The costs, security and flexibility differentiate Open Source Software and Commercial Software. For the cost, it is free of charge for users to use open source software while open source's security is more secure than commercial software is due to source code is available for public scrutiny which is vulnerable for developers to find and fix the code.

(c) Open Source software has a smaller risk compared to Closed Source Software. It is not affected even if the company falls or bankrupts as the source is still available to allow users to continue to use the products. While closed source software is tied to the company who creates the software. Once if the company falls or bankrupts, the software will be fallen as well. as they are leaning greatly on company's viability.


Information Link:
http://www.commonplaces.com/services/why-open-source
http://solutionsfit.com/blog/2010/04/06/7-reasons-to-use-open-source-software/