What is Open Source?

The concept of open source software is simple: software that is distributed under a licence that explicitly allows, and typically encourages, programmers to read, fix, extend and redistribute the source code of a product. The end result is better software that uses the best ideas and best implementations from anyone who chooses to participate.

A common misunderstanding is that using open source products in your application means that your application must also be released as open source. This is not true for most open source licenses and we know the licenses to avoid this being a problem for you.

Open source software has been used to power the internet from the start. Today over 65% of web sites are served by the open source Apache web server and most of the content on web sites is generated by open source programming languages such as Python, PHP and Perl; most of the world's email passes through open source servers such as Sendmail, Postfix and Exim.

Why is Open Source Better?

Here are just a few of the reasons we think open source is better:

• Quality. Many consider the quality of open source projects to be significantly better than proprietary software. The development model encourages constant peer review of the code and design of the software. Releases tend to occur frequently and only when the software is considered ready for use; not on a date set by a marketing department.
• Reduced Risk. Availability of source code and the freedom of an open source licence gives business greater control over the tools they depend on. Unreasonable price increases, unacceptable licencing restrictions and the collapse or acquisition of a vendor have very little impact.
• Security. Attempts to hack internet servers are frequent and tools to help are readily available so security is critical to the success of any online enterprise. No software is 100% immune from security vulnerabilities but the number of people actively reading open source software helps to reduce the risk. When a problem is found in an open source package it is often fixed in a matter of hours; proprietary software vendors sometimes take months to even announce the existence of a problem to its customers.
• Flexiblity. Open source software is transparent. If there's something you need it to do, and you can add it yourself, then you can change it to do whatever you want. Hopefully, you'll also provide your additions for others to use so that the software continues to improve.
• Support. Access to good support channels is important during development and day-to-day running of services. Most open source projects provide free, high quality support via mailing lists, forums and IRC. The help is often provided by the same people that wrote the original code - who better to help out! Commercial support is also available for many of the larger open source projects.
• Cost. Open source software is typically available at no cost and available to download from the internet. Open source licences are designed to allow you to use the software again and again with no per-seat or per-server costs to worry about. Future versions will also be available at no cost and you don't need to track the latest version to get support or ensure the upgrade price doesn't shoot up later. All this means you will have more money to spend where it matters - realising your business ideas.
• Standards. Open source software has largely defined the standards in use on the internet today so it's no surprise to find that the same open standards are considered extremely important. Open standards allow products from different vendors to work together and also prevent business from getting "tied" to a single product from a single vendor.