An important side effect of the open-source model is a much wider platform range for your product. Open-source authors frequently find the m selves receiving, for free, port changes for operating systems and environments they barely know exist and can't afford developers to support. Each such port, of course, widens the market appeal of the product. The basic idea behind open source is very simple. When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source for a piece of software, it evolves.
People improve it, people adapt it, and people fix bugs.
And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing. Additionally, people add it to their product mix, enhancing its functionality and deploying products and services in a broad range of markets. This propagates the initial open source to additional products and services, increasing the opportunities for all concerned. Value Computer programs have three kinds of economic value. For Salutation, this means potential development of new products and services that can access existing Salutation-enabled MFPs and Fax devices.