Linux Technology Advisor, Robin

Open Source softwares open their source code for the public for peer-review, bug-fixes, and improvements to the software. Examples:

• If your media player rewinds 20s, you can change the source and make it rewind 5s instead. Minor usability change.
• You add to the source code the ability to automatically to look for lyrics for you MP3. Major usablity improvement.
• A major security flaw has been found, you or your technician can fix it on the spot since the source code is open, or you can wait for people around the world to fix it within minutes/hours

These are possible because the source code is OPEN to the world.

YOU are in control of your application. YOU dictate what the program does. That's the power of open source. That is why IBM, Google, amongst others have embraced Linux. Dell, HP, Lenovo have recently started offering Linux preloaded on their machines, for both business and consumer use.

True Open Source allows you to have all the source code, you are free to do anything you want with it and run it anywhere you want.

What does this mean for businesses? It means, you are not locked into any vendor. Your application can be platform independant, you can fix the any software problems yourself, or wait for someone with the same interest somewhere on the globe to fix it. If your old software works fine and there is no compelling reason to upgrade, you can continue to use it instead of being forced to upgrade, and software support continues (whether it's by the company who made it, someone else or you). You have choices, you are in control.

Much more to come...