Open Source Software

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Funjarre

Programming

Management of Information Systems

standord university

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You are the CIO of your company, and you have to develop an application of strategic importance to your firm. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using open-source software? Do you think that this is a viable option for your company?

Just do response each posted # 1 to 3 down below

Posted 1

Being the Chief Information officer comes with a lot of prestige and responsibilities. In a decision making role such as the CIO, that person must decide which application to develop and utilize as a strong strategic point. I feel that there are numerous advantages in using open-source software. To begin with, Open-source software can be inexpensive for an organization that may relatively just be staring off and does not have the capital to make one from scratch. Another great advantage is the capability of editing certain aspects of the system application. "Organizations obtain a license to implement an open-source software product and either use it as is, customize it, or develop applications with it." (Rainer & Prince, 2018.p.377). I really like the feature of being able to customize the system to the needs of my organization. The fact that you can take something that already exist and then work to improve on it makes for a great competitive advantage. With advantages there are also disadvantages, including in an open-source system. To start off, it is not cheap for an organization to develop one from scratch based on the resources wasted like money and time. I feel that the fact that it takes organizations plenty of time to figure it out it is because the lack of knowledge involved in this process. Then we have to think about maintaining the system working at full capacity and this can be costly to an organization considering the value spent on resources and missed opportunities. In my particular, since my company has just started, I would first think about leasing the application before I invest too much on one of my own.


Posted 2

To know the benefits and disadvantages of open source we must first define open-source. The Open Source Initiative defines open source software as “software that can be freely used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone”(Xie I., Matusiak K. 2016) The code which is the computer language that allows systems to be programmed is what company's development. Most companies that develop this code don't allow other users to modify their code or distribute it unless the code is categorized as public license open-source. Open source provides many benefits in the following ways. First, open-source is relatively cheap to implement which is great for businesses that have a low IT budget. Most companies have very limited resources and convincing an IT committee to purchase new software is easier when these fall under the budget. Second, open-sources allows users the ability to modify software and adapt to meet specific user needs (Xie, I., Matusiak, K., 2016). Open-source can be customized by the organization's programmers to add or remove code to adapt the software to their business needs. This means that the software will continue to evolve as the needs of the organization change making it harder to become obsolete.

Now there are certain disadvantages that open-source users must take into account. First, Maintaining open-source can provide a challenge to companies. Users must be willing to invest time and resources into learning the code because they don't have the traditional support that traditional software offers. Second, since open source code may be underdeveloped causing users to get frustrated and not use it. This would obviously hurt the company and offset any benefits that would have been generated. In my company, see open-source as a viable option because the benefits of open-source outweigh the disadvantages. Open source has been used by many companies and the reason is that most users favor software that can be improved making technology one of the most innovative due to the constant improvements.

Posted 3

The use of open-source software to address business needs is indeed a very viable option and is an option that many successful and reputable businesses have chosen. Open-source software (OSS) is that which not only has source code available but is also allowed to be modified and redistributed without additional permission. An obvious benefit of utilizing open-source software is cost. Purchasing software from a vendor would be considerably more costly. Developing software in-house has costs involved as well as additional time factors to consider. Other benefits of OSS derive from the fact that it is developed and maintained by a very large community who share, and are quite often passionate about, the common goal of product support and improvement. The size of the communities involved in enterprise open-source software suites also provides for a level of security that may be lacking with other options due to the increased ability to review and vet the code (Bromhead, 2017). The ability to modify the code provides for a level of flexibility not available with proprietary software. And it is worth considering that with OSS, the motivations behind the direction and development of products is not driven by the bottom-line, as can be the case with proprietary solutions.

One last point to consider is longevity. Producers of proprietary software packages can go out of business or decide to stop developing or supporting a product. While this may not be as much of a concern with the expensive solutions from the more established providers, it can certainly be cause for concern with products provided by others. It’s much less of a concern with OSS solutions. Since anyone can access the source code, OSS can evolve continuously as the community can continue to support and develop it without vendor confinements.


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