Open Source Basics

Lots of our friends ask why Open Source since we have lots of freeware! But there is a basic difference.

Everyone should try Open Source before dealing with any closed source product. Two main reasons. First of all you do not need to pay a single cent to use it as it is. We use Firefox and Apache – they never charge anything but they serve our purpose well.

Again there are FREE closed source products. Why should you avoid them? Because you never know if this is Free cheese in a mouse trap — if there are daemons under the hood, some day would change policy and force you to pay a lot, or die suddenly, or ask your head for changing some report. In case of open source you have everything — including source code and your son who knows a few lines of programming can fix typos. Or you can go to oDesk or Rent-a-Coder or hire someone recompiling code in a few bucks.

Open source is a new business paradigm. It does not lock you and it is more secured than hidden code. If someone says your software does not have a simple feature, you can request the original developer to make it or find skilled coders! You may pay some money but you have full control in your hand.