OPEN SOURCE vs.COMMERCIAL

SOFTWARE

an academic view

Budi Rahardjohttp://budi.insan.co.id

budi@indocisc.co.idPresented at Business Software Alliance (BSA) Seminar

14 November 2003, Hyatt, Jakarta

Nov 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 2

Outline

Free & Open Source Initiatives Open Source Software (OSS) vs.

Commercial Software Concluding Remarks

Note: point of view of academic

Nov 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 3

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 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 4

OSS vs. Commercial

Usually it is framed as Linux vs. Microsoft Security vs. Innovation

Nov 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 5

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 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 6

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 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 7

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 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 8

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 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 9

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 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 10

Concluding Remarks

There are pros and cons to Open Source and Proprietary Software

Use accordingly

Nov 2003 OSS vs. Commercial - Budi Rahardjo 11

References

GNU: http://www.gnu.org Open Source Initiative: http

://www.opensource.org