In this research I am describing the causes and effects of open source on software development. I will focus on advantages and disadvantages of using open source first, because I believe that comparing these can show clear result to find out if open source is the best method for software development or no.
Open Source Definition
Open source software is about software that has free available source code. Because of the opening access to source code, it is possible that users enhance, customize and modify the software according to their requirements and needs. There is also opportunity to change the open source software for specific purpose and repackage the own version of the software and also sell the package under certain conditions. According to Weber (2004), most of the times open source software is developed as a public collaboration and can be available for free.
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The open source development (OSSD) model is being progressively adopted with classic development organizations by following the aim of producing higher quality software, even for the companies that are not involved to produce an open source product. The open source development model offers are increasing efficiencies and cause describes typical processes for source code submissions and managing feature requests besides architectural decisions. You may know that every open source project has its own way of managing their development process (Haddad, 2011).
Advantages of Open Source Development Model
According to Haddad (2011), The OSDD has demonstrated to be a successful model that cause rapid development, faster testing, better innovation. I will focus on approved practices to follow from the open source development model that allows best advantages into development model as the following effects.
- Higher quality. the supporters of OSSD have declared that OSSD can improve software product quality and reassure software progression and innovation among other software developments, one of the most advantage key of OSSD is its affected higher quality, and one of the positive points of this is that the members of the open source communities can give immediate specific and direct feedback on the software code written by others because they all have got full access to the source code besides submitting the patches of the codes properly (Tian, 2006).
- Get the benefits of team work: by using OSSD there are many options to involve in team communication like wikis, forums, chat software and others and use the newest experiences of others on a specific method (Haddad, 2011).
- No limited for users. Heron (2013), believes that open source is not limited on the company or the main author that created it. Even if the company breaks down, the code is still existing and be developed by its users. On the other hand, it is possible to access for everyone. So, there is no problem of inconsistent formats exist in software.
- Effective code designs: one of the benefits of using source codes is using a minimal code base and separate all capabilities and functionalities modules to access reuse and have easier testing (Haddad, 2011).
- Faster time to market: open source solutions are available and free, for this reason investigate options and get solutions off the ground is often much faster and easier (Durkovic, 2008).
- No need complex licensing models: the companies are using open-source software do not need to think about the licensing models that may are complex or any anti-piracy measures like serial number or product activation.
- It’s generally free. According to Heron (2013), it has been estimated that by using open source software it saves about $60 billion a year for business. By focusing of this huge money, you can imagine one of the most important benefits of using open sources developments.
- Reliability. Weber (2004) believed that, the reliability of OSSD is superior because the huge number of eyes on it. He found out that because code is developed on online forums and guided by experts there are a lot of robust, tested code and tried on open source.
Disadvantages of Open Source Development Model
Let’s mention some disadvantages of open source that may cause negative effects of future of open source. Although, I believe that it cannot cause major effect.
- Not easy to use: it is not possible to learn open-source operating systems like Linux in a day. It needs too much time require effort and training from your side before being expert in them. In some cases, you may need to hire a trained person that will cause additional costs. We can say open source developments has got less user-friendly than common software (Durkovic, 2008).
- Not easy to compatible: lack of applications that run both on proprietary software and open source. Thus, before switching to an open source platform we need to have compatibility analysis of all the other software used that run on proprietary platforms. Besides, the various number of parallel developments on open source software will cause confusion on what functionalities are exists in which versions, besides incompatible to the open source platform with the new hardware so it enforces you to rely on third-party drivers (Haddad, 2011).
- Possible to find vulnerabilities: although having an open system create a space for many people identifying bugs and fixing them, it also creates the opportunities for that malicious users that can potentially view the bugs and exploit any vulnerabilities (Durkovic, 2008).
- Repeating innovation. One of the important parameters in open source projects that is actually necessary is decentralization. Decentralization is for protecting those who grant to the project from excessive constitutional rules and procedures. Although, this act can cause repeating innovation in fact a large part of development staff works separately. Many small projects constantly overlap (Durkovic, 2008).
- Difficult to estimate its progress. According to Durkovic (2008), unofficial planning helps to motivate members and increases potency, but on the other hand, it is really impossible to makes the prediction of the end of the project. The reason of that is the invisibility of the process clearly and that’s why the estimate of progressing is hard.
Open Source Views
With the increasing popularity of open source software such as the Linux kernel, Apache web server, MySQL database system, and Mozilla web browsers in the business world, open source software is attracting more and more attention from the academic community. According to Von (2003), some supervisors attempt to use open-source software in their systems. Others might try to use business based on distributing and open source software. German-based SUSE and U.S. based Red Hat for distributing their Linux software, to show as templates for such activity. Some other companies like IBM that offers Linux as an option are using and sell computer hardware that running open source software. The policies of some managers are trying to reduce development costs and advanced standard software by using the open-source development model.
Nowadays, most of the software companies have started approving the use of open source technology, and it has been diagnosed as a usable business model. I believe that there is a strategy for powerful companies to collaborate on that software that are not comprehend easy and try to grow that and make theme bigger and bigger. In fact, I believe that open source will increasingly compatible for all infrastructure components and this will be caused the end the domination for powerful software companies in this market. I don’t think to see the effect of this with end-user applications because much of them that has driven the maintenance of open source is missing there, Although, I believe that moving to the cloud will happen and continue by end-user applications, and most of the software products will be heavily based on open source components such as workflow engines, databases, etc.
Conclusion
I noticed considerable elements of the open source development besides, described symbolic characteristics of OSDD. The main idea of open source approach is the ability of user to do all possible things with the software. The OSDD model has proved to be very successful, with too many of success adventures. Although there are some disadvantages parameters found in which prevent it to mention OSDD as the best development model, but in my opinion, we can still say that the recommended model that has special characteristics for allowing faster development by widely distributed teams, frequent and thorough testing, multiple layers of peer review and quicker innovation, besides total observance and transparency during the project.
References
- Durkovic, J., Vuković, V. and Raković, L., 2008. Open Source Approach in Software Development—Advantages and Disadvantages. Manga Information Sits, 3, pp.029-33.
- Haddad, I., 2011. Understanding the Open Source Development Model, San Francisco: the Linux Foundation.
- Heron, M., Hanson, V.L. and Ricketts, I., 2013. Open source and accessibility: advantages and limitations. Journal of interaction Science, 1(1), p.2.
- Tian, Y., 2006. DEVELOPING AN OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS MODEL, Lincoln, Nebraska: UMI.
- Von Krogh, G., 2003. Open-source software development. MIT Sloan Management Review, 44(3), pp.14-18.
- Weber, S., 2004. The success of open source. Harvard University Press.
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