OPEN SOURCE vs. COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE an academic view Budi Rahardjo Presented at Business Software Alliance (BSA) Seminar 14 November 2003, Hyatt, Jakarta
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo2 Outline Free & Open Source Initiatives Open Source Software (OSS) vs. Commercial Software Concluding Remarks Note: point of view of academic
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo3 Definition of commercial software? Software that is sold and support commercially (Open source software can be sold and support commercially too.) Perhaps “proprietary software” is more correct
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo4 OSS vs. Commercial Usually it is framed as Linux vs. Microsoft Security vs. Innovation
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo5 Free & Open Source Initiatives Has been there for ages Various licensing schemes Public domain Shareware Copyrighted but free to use GNU Public License (GPL) Open Source Other licensing: BSD, Q License, etc.
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo6 Benefits of OSS Availability of source code to study and experiment with Beautiful source code to read Do not have to re-invent the wheel Free as in “freedom” And sometimes: free as in “gratis” Does not depend on vendor. Can choose vendor / support we like Can fix bugs
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo7 Benefits of Commercial Software Benefits of providing access to commercial software in academic environment: Understand the (business) model of software in commercial environment Familiar with commercial software / solution Comply with industrial standards
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo8 Disadvantage of OSS If source code is not looked at, no need to have OSS There are also bad codes, unqualify persons Too much hype?
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo9 Disadvantage of Proprietary Dependent upon vendor. What if vendor collapsed? Charge too much? Monopoly? Too much dose of Intellectual Property is bad for innovation
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo10 Concluding Remarks There are pros and cons to Open Source and Proprietary Software Use accordingly
Nov 2003OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo11 References GNU: Open Source Initiative: