As unbelievable as it appears, there are infact outfits and foundations around the world that actively create and distribute software for no cost. The reason for them doing this depends on company to company, but the advantages to the users is incredible.
Way back in the 1970′s, computer programmers and nerds would programme software and distribute it to others for free to try and improve it. That was until a man called Bill Gates who saw a money making opportunity in programming software for computers and constructed Altair BASIC. Much to his concern for him, his software was also pirated around and he ended up writing a pointed letter detailing why software should not be free (Google Bill Gates Open Letter).
In recent years, the open source collective has been winning a large slice in the software market, mostly driven by developing countries who can’t afford the licensing fees of commercial software like Windows, MS Office, Photoshop and even Programming Languages.
There are open source versions of just about everything, from blogging platforms to computer applications. The open source concept has even hit the food and drink market with open source recipes for wine and beer now available on the Web. I am actually writing this short article on a piece of open source software called Open Office, a free substitute to MS Word, and it’s powered by Ubuntu, an open source substitute to Windows or Mac OS X.
When it comes to websites, there is a plethora of open source software available to power any kind of site. Web development companies such as WordPress and Wikimedia Foundation release products free for businesses to use. What makes it extremely effective is that open source customization can be undertaken by a number of companies around the Earth.
Deciding on open source software to power your website sets up a great base from which to start, for example WordPress is perfect for virtually any kind of site, but with a bit of WordPress customization you can have it meet your exact specifications for a small percentage of the cost of developing it from fom the start.
Before you buy your next software, always look to see if there is an open source option on the market. Particularly during these hard times, open source software could be one way you or your company can lower its costs.