I rarely find arguments for or against open source which are not for the technology sake or not religious. The harm in being purely religious is that the user benefit takes a backseat. Finally software or hardware or for that matter anything in the computing industry is for the user’s benefit. But reading this article by Mark Taylor (via Linux And Open Source Blog) made me nod more than just a couple of times.
Look at your own organisation, and you’ll see that IT consists of three broad groups: hardware, software and the “know-how” that makes it all work. It has been said that “IT doesn’t matter”, and increasingly, that’s true. The purpose of IT is to serve the goals of the organisation, not the other way round.
Another good thing about the article is that Mark does not use licenses or technical jargon to introduce open source, he uses plain English. He explains benefits of using open source to the businesses, in short he provides the bottom-line justification for using open source. This is something vital for encouraging companies to adopt open source. Frankly speaking I have hardly met business professionals who are Slashdot visiting open source fanatics. They want to know the impact and advantage to their business. Mark uses a small formula to explain it.
The open-source formula is simple: commodity hardware + open source software + appropriate know-how = competitive advantage.
Usually a lot of people agree to the benefits of the open source theory, but don’t believe in it because they don’t find the bottom-line benefits. The most dominant reason being lack of appropriate know-how for which the open source software is blamed. For product owners, I think open sourcing your product is keeping an open mind towards your users and their contributions or feedback. If you still wonder whether open source can benefit your organisation or not, read the article. If required re-read, you might be able to start seeing its benefits, slowly but surely.
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:51 pm
[...] Though this cannot be said generically, the cost of open source software turns out be less. This is mainly for two reasons, one is that having the source with you lets you do full customization, and secondly open source tools tend to have more community support. Of course, a lot of people argue against this, but I believe the reason is usually lack of skills in the team. Some research and informed choice of software out of the open source basket can provide a better solution. One of the best examples is the field of CMS, where the open source counterparts lead the way. The formula mentioned by Mark Taylor can help. [...]