Tech Notes: Not just for geeks and academics

Mar 13 2008 by Mark O'Neill

OPEN-SOURCE software started out as the domain of geeks and academics only. But now, it’s starting to hit the mainstream – and software giants such as Microsoft are starting to feel uneasy.

In simple terms, open-source is a set of principles and practices on how to write software, the most important of which is that the source code is openly available for other developers to modify, so it can be tailored and sold, or given away. For business, the open-source movement can provide them with an effective, well-engineered alternative to almost any commercial software package.

The range of open-source packages is diverse, ranging from operating systems like Linux and clones of the popular Microsoft XP operating system to spreadsheets, word processors and special purpose packages such as compilers for programming languages.

In the past open-source suffered from bad press, particularly because instructions on how to use it and fix problems were poor at best, and often non-existent.

If something went wrong, in contrast to commercial offerings, it could be difficult to get it fixed. As a result, open-source remained firmly the domain of academic computer scientists and the enthusiastic hobbyist. But now things are changing. Today, mature open-source packages such as Linux and OpenOffice are as easy to install, and as well-documented as their commercial counterparts. Websites such as SourceForge have bulletin boards, mailing lists and interactive chat rooms to help you solve any problems rapidly.

Major computer companies such as IBM, Apple and Hewlett Packard now routinely offer open-source software. For example, MacOSX-10 is based on Darwin, an open-source variant of Berkeley UNIX. Here in the UK, large plcs such as Tesco routinely deploy open-source software within their organisations.And open-source operating systems such as Linux and NetBSD have become the software of choice if one needs to deploy high availability servers with minimal maintenance overheads.

And, just this week, the European Commission said it will buy more of its computer software from open-source developers – a potential blow to the Redmond-based giant, which is trying to prevent an increasing number of governments defecting away from its proprietary software.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a big rise in the number of laptops using open-source over the next five years or so. At last, the floodgates are starting to open.

Mark O'Neill is technical director at leading open-source software developer, Tumbling Dice