9 reasons to choose Open Source

Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) is software that has been developed by and for the user community. Open Source Projects present golden opportunities for developers to share and, above all, learn through collaboration. Contributing does not only mean coding, in fact, every project requires a wide range of skills.

In the search of new and innovating ways to conduct business, companies have had to rethink and optimize how they create, deploy and use software assets or even rethink their whole IT infrastructure. Accordingly, Open Source ushers in higher quality, greater reliability, more flexibility, lower costs and an end to proprietary lock-in. So ultimately Open Source is good for business. Further below we list you some of the reasons why we think you should be using Open Source solutions.

“Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.”

— Linus’s Law

Security

Bugs in Open Source Software are usually fixed in no time. Because, having more people in the community means faster response rates. In the proprietary world, however, we see mostly the opposite. Major companies like Oracle or Microsoft, for example, typically take weeks if not months to patch vulnerabilities.

Quality

Ask yourself which software package is most likely the better one: the one created by a few developers or the one created by hundreds if not thousands of developers?

Customisability

Every bit of code is visible. So if you want to change a particular part of the software to your needs, you can easily modify, add or delete the code to make it do what you want. Proprietary software often forbids you from making any changes at all or they will make it very difficult to do so!

Freedom

Freedom to use whatever you feel like without breaching expensive contracts, having to work within the vendor’s boundaries, paying exorbitant prices, having to work at the vendor’s tempo… You decide, not the vendor of the product.

Flexibility

You have the possibility of using whatever version or build of the software and of the hardware you need. You upgrade whenever you feel like it.

Interoperability

Open Source Software tries to be as compatible as possible with as many different software products as possible. Many users like having the option to change between systems and more importantly, to link other businesses, computers and users with each other.

Auditability

Again: Open Source code is visible to everyone. Everyone. If you feel like you want to know for sure whether or not your software is secure and adhering to certain standards, then Open Source Software is exactly what you need.

Support Options

Support is one of our core businesses, so we take this service very seriously. Receive paid support options on all of the Open Source packages at prices that are still way below those you would normally pay for proprietary software.

Cost

This is often –wrongfully– listed as the only reason, but nevertheless a significant one, why a company should switch to Open Source Software. The reason for this is that mandatory proprietary charges are history with Open Source Software. Most importantly, you decide what you need and you can get it at a better quality at just a fraction of the price.