10 reasons why the popularity of open source software has soared

Open-source software-the promised land of technology enthusiasts-is now in the software world. By 2016, according to Gartner, Open-source software will be among the world's top 2000 corporate mission-critical software portfolios. In fact, according to Black Duck software, the source management provider, so far there are no fewer than 1 million different open-source software projects. Here is a list of 10 reasons why the popularity of open source software has soared.

1. Quality is the brunt

According to the findings of this year's "Black Duck Open Source Future" survey, quality is the first reason respondents choose Open source. This is a huge change. 2011, the quality factor ranked in the selection of open source software factor fifth. As open source projects gain more and more followers, more people contribute their power to help improve stability, discover/fix bugs, and simplify interfaces. Easy to deploy, and one of the factors that has risen from sixth place in 2013 to third place, is another good sign of the rapid maturation of open source projects. In fact, many open source tools are now similar to other proprietary equivalent commercial software-installation is simple, and if you really consider this fact, in many cases the purchase or purchase process can be omitted.

2. function Setting function

Linux Foundation in a 2013 report, 80% of companies plan to increase their use of Linux over the next 5 years, while only 20% plan to increase their use of Windows. The number of companies that use Linux to perform mission-critical workloads has grown from 60% in 2010 to 73% in 2012. Of course, price is a factor. Even with increased support costs, Open-source software is often significantly cheaper than commercial proprietary software. But according to the Linux Foundation report, prices are just the second most important factor. The first is feature setting. This is a dramatic reversal from the early open source technology, especially when commercial products are more complete and robust, and it is not easy for open-source software to achieve such a record.

3. Security

Security has been seen as a negative factor in blocking open source, but that has changed. This year, 72% of Black duck respondents said they chose open source software only because of security considerations. Open source software allows users to view code to organize the emergence and spread of potential security vulnerabilities. "I do like the transparency of open source," said Daniel Polly, corporate information security officer of Financial Bank. "But that's how, when data and software interact, I like to see what happens in those streams of data through open source." Polly says the bank uses snort. Commercial vendors are urging the use of open source products that meet the requirements, especially in security and other areas.

4. Speeding innovation

Traditional software vendors create and develop their products internally. But that doesn't mean open source vendors are starting from scratch-they're just standing on the traditional basics of innovation. "Open source software provides a software platform that reduces the need to start a project from scratch," said analyst Jon Oltsik. "These platforms can be self-regulating in a customized way to accelerate the development process for special-purpose products." "Of course, this process can not be separated from the cloud services and Amazon and Microsoft support." Above, we can see that the cloud service provider provides Amazon EC2 with a similar service based on Apache OpenStack, but there is a difference between professional service and customer service level. Says Mark Hinkle of Citrix.

5. Scalability

Traditional proprietary software is often focused on meeting the needs of a particular niche market, such as a business or SME. Open source projects are often not limited to this problem because they are usually built around customer needs.

"As a traditional start-up, the IT pillar we started building was almost entirely based on open source technology," said Rafael Herrera, head of Groupon BI International. "For us, in addition to the key factor in cost-benefit, we need a framework that can support dynamic growth from the outset." "For example, Groupon borrows an Open-source data integration platform from Talend.

6. User-

Open source software allows savvy users to go directly to the source code and modify the source code. "I've been able to expand open source software that meets our needs, without the need for a third party to intervene." "Paul Stadler, a technical manager working at Cat Shetty Hospital in Chester County, said. The company uses open source Veterinary practice management software as its core business, running on a Linux server and transferring data to a staff's desktops and mobile devices via a web-based interface.

In fact, according to the Black Duck survey this year, the adaptability and flexibility of Open-source Software has ranked fourth in the use of open source rather than proprietary software, ranking eighth last year.

7. Strong Cooperative

For a long time, once the company needed the same functional software, the first thought was to build from scratch, or to use a product purchased from an external vendor. The later phenomenon is that competing companies simplify the process by working together to create open source software that everyone can use. This allows companies to spend time and money on projects that differentiate between competing products. According to the Black Duck Survey, 50% of companies contribute to open source, and 56% say they will increase their contribution to open source this year.

8. Standard

I'm glad that the leaders who have ideas in the organization can set open source standards and choose the best way forward for the industry. In practice, however, such things often happen, and the actual standards come from the advent of popular products, such as the doc format for Microsoft Word. A successful open source project should be able to provide the same functionality, and there is no risk of lock-in by the vendor concerned. "Many times it is easy to implement a standard by adopting a real product." Mark Hinkle said. "The Apache Web server is a very good example of large-scale adoption, and in the early days of the internet it is also driving many web standards to be used as an access platform." ”

9. Front-End Advantages

In many areas, open source software is no longer behind the proprietary platform of the younger brother, but as a guide. Many high-profile Open-source projects, such as cloud computing, mobile, large data and IoT, are driving the evolution of these proprietary platforms. Not to mention the network itself, which is built on open Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Even the most recent technology news topic-virtual reality, which also has several competing open source virtual environment platforms, including OpenSim, open Wonderland and open Qwaq, and so on.

10. Cost

Prices have also been a cause for concern. In this year's Black Duck Survey, 68% of respondents said open source not only helped to improve efficiency, but also reduced the cost of development.

Of course, open source is not equal to freedom. Vendors can still charge software, a specific version of the software costs, to support/customize software development work. In addition, a company may need to integrate internal resources to absorb and transform Open-source software, but that is no longer a major drain on capital. "It's not just to cut costs or any traditional simple reason why we use open-source software," says Lou Shipley, president and chief executive of Black Duck. "Open source has proven its quality and safety, and has achieved widespread democratization and constant proliferation." ”