Open-Source Is the New Black
By: Shanika Perera
Tags: Wso2, Open Source Software, Apache, Linux, Open Source

Open-Source Is the New Black

Why Open-Source is the future of collaborative development

Have you ever wondered when you’re “Netflix and Chilling” or “Spotifying”, what's it like at their codebase and ask oneself how it works? Well, I did and I recently found out that Netflix and Spotify are Open Source 😲 (Actually not all the components, but some). Both Netflix and Spotify are committed to open source and they have published some of their software components to the public. This got me to think that open-source software has a lot to offer to businesses as well as to the public domain. It is more agile and customizable to our needs and it literally saves us a lot of money. From accounting packages to full-enterprise solutions open-source software is now a popular topic in the market. And I also happen to work for a great company that provides open-source middleware technology. WSO2 is the world’s #1 open source integration vendor, helping digitally driven organizations become integration agile. By considering all the insights I gathered from there and from the outside, let’s explore some facts about open source.

What exactly is Open-Source?

In general, “Open-Source” refers to something people can modify and share as it is publicly accessible. When it comes to software development terminology Open Source Software otherwise known as OSS is a type of computer software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the right to study, change and distribute the software to anyone for any purpose.

Whenever we build software with great potential and has a high standard of business value, we tend to keep the source code to ourselves without exposing it to the outside world. There’s so much secrecy behind it. But the Open Source concept is totally different. OSS is an eminent example of open collaboration.

Difference between OSS and other types of software?

As mentioned earlier, some software has source code that only specific persons have access to it (The secret recipe of Coca-Cola comes into mind) and only some have the authority to modify and control it. These are known as proprietary software. When it comes to proprietary software, only the original authors of the software can legally copy, inspect and alter the software. There are almost always major restrictions on its use. The restrictions on the use of proprietary software are usually enumerated in the End User License Agreements (EULAs) that users must consent to. EULAs are usually long and complex.

OSS is totally different. Its authors make its source code available to the public domain which allows others to view that code, copy it, learn from it, modify it as they wish or share it. When it comes to OSS, the users must accept the terms of use much like with the proprietary software but the legal terms of open-source licenses are dramatically contrasting with proprietary licenses.

Popular Open-Source Software — put it briefly

Linux is the best-known and most-used open-source operating system in the world. In many ways, Linux is similar to other operating systems such as Windows, iOS, etc. It has a graphical interface, word processing applications, etc. On the other hand, Linux is also much different from other OSes because it is open-source which means the code used to create Linux is open to the public to view, edit and also contribute. Linux is highly customizable because of this feature. The users can swap out applications such as web browsers, word processors and the fun does not stop there. Users have the capability to choose core components as well such as system displays graphics, UI components, etc. How awesome is that? 😍 Click here to access the Linux repository.

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). It is a free OSS under the terms of GNU General Public License and also available under a variety of proprietary licenses. MySQL is a component of the LAMP web application software stack (which is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python). It is used by many database-driven web applications such as Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress and websites including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Youtube. MySQL has the ability to store data in multiple storage engines including InnoDB, CSV, NDB, and more, replicate data and partition tables for better performance and durability, Access database info with SQL commands, Use triggers and views to enforce business rules and show only data needed per user, etc. Click here to access the MySQL repository.

$20B+ worth of Apache Open Source software products are made available to the public-at-large at 100% no cost and benefit billions of users around the world.

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit corporation. ASF is a decentralized open-source community of developers. The Apache projects are characterized by a collaborative, agreement-based development process and an open and pragmatic software license. Each project is managed by a self-selected team of technical experts who are active contributors to the project. Unlike some other organizations that host FOSS projects, before a project is hosted at Apache it has to be licensed to the ASF with a grant or contributor agreement. By doing that, ASF gains the necessary intellectual property rights for the development distribution. Click here to access the Apache repository.

PHP is an open-source general-purpose scripting language that is widely used for web development and can be embedded into HTML. PHP is free software released under the PHP License. The best things in using PHP are that it is extremely simple for a newcomer, but offers many advanced features for a professional programmer. PHP code may be executed with a command-line interface (CLI), embedded into HTML code, or used in combination with various web template systems, web content management systems, and web frameworks. Click here to access the PHP repository.

The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. The GNU Compiler Collection includes front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, FORTRAN, Ada, Go, and D. GCC has been ported to a wide variety of instruction set architectures and is widely deployed as a tool in the development of both free and proprietary software. GCC is a key component of the GNU tool-chain and the standard compiler for most projects related to GNU and Linux, including the Linux kernel. Click here to access the GNU Compiler Collection repository.

Mozilla Firefox otherwise known as Firefox browser/ Firefox is a free and open-source web browser developed by Mozilla Foundation. Firefox has become the most flexible of all web browsers because of its open-source heritage. With thousands of plugins and extensions available, it is easy to transform Firefox into the ideal web browser. Firefox’s source code forms the basis of many specialist projects, including the security-focused Tor Browser and speed-centric Waterfox. Firefox is updated every five to eight weeks. It has this amazing feature where the end-users get the chance to try out the new features by installing the Beta version or taking part in Firefox Test Pilot. Click here to access the Firefox repository.

Mozilla Thunderbird works as a free and open-source cross-platform email client, news client and chat (XMPP, IRC, Twitter) client. Like Firefox, Thunderbird is an open-source project published by the Mozilla Foundation and is almost without a limit adaptable. Thunderbird offers many useful features such as message management, junk filtering, supports extensions and themes, big file linking, HTML code insertion, cross-platform support, etc. Click here to access the Mozilla Thunderbird repository.

VLC is a free and open-source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. VLC is available for desktop operating systems and mobile platforms, such as Android, iOS, iPadOS, Tizen, Windows 10 Mobile, and Windows Phone. VLC is also available on digital distribution platforms such as Apple’s App Store, Google Play and Microsoft Store. VLC media player contains amazing features such as it plays Files, Discs, Webcams, Devices, and Streams, No spyware and no user tracking, fast hardware decoding, supports many kinds of file formats, subtitle synchronization, video, and audio filters, etc. Click here to access the VLC Media Player repository.

GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) is a mature, feature-packed free and open-source image editor. GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows, and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes. It is widely used for image retouching and editing, free-form drawing, converting between different image formats, and more specialized tasks. You can adjust every aspect of your pictures’ appearance manually, or use the dozens of customizable filters and effects to achieve amazing results with just a few clicks. GIMP comes with a huge array of user-created plugins pre-installed. Click here to access the GIMP repository.

Wireshark is a free and open-source packet analyzer. It is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and you can freely use Wireshark on any number of computers you like, without worrying about license keys or fees or such. Wireshark is used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education purposes. Wireshark is cross-platform, using the Qt widget toolkit in current releases to implement its user interface, and using pcap to capture packets; it runs on Linux, macOS, BSD, Solaris, some other Unix-like operating systems, and Microsoft Windows. Click here to access the Wireshark repository.

Reasons to support OSS

Better Security — Given that OSS is available to the public, having more eyes on software means more testing, bug fixing, and hardening. Products that are closed to the public view may have only a set of developers and testers to test products. In that case, there’s a chance that some small flaw or a bug to get missed. This results in security flaws. But there’s a huge open source community behind every OSS. The more people who can see and test a set of code, the more likely to find flaws and fix them quickly. On account of this, bugs in open source software tend to get fixed immediately. Higher quality software — In my opinion, a software package developed by thousands of developers is much better than a software package created by a handful of developers. Behind every OSS, there are countless developers and end-users working hard to improve the security as well as the performance of the software. Flexibility — OSS is less resource-intensive in nature. When it comes to OSS, there’s no vendor lock-in. If you use proprietary software, you have to keep upgrading both software and hardware until doomsday. But with OSS you can run your software as per your choice without having your vendor forcing you to upgrade. Boundless customization — Open-source software offers a great degree of customization through access to the code. Assume that your business purchased a proprietary software and the end-users are not satisfied with its features and capabilities. Be that as it may, now that you have bought the software and you do not have access to its codebase, there’s no turning back. When it comes to OSS, business users can take a piece of code and adjust it to suit their needs. Since the code is open to the public domain, its simply a matter of time and modifying it to add the functionalities they want. Attract better talent — Open-source gives the ability to attract better talent. It allows showcasing to the developer community. The developers behind the open-source community contribute to projects, learn from it and work on unsolved problems as well. If they like what they tackle with, there’s a better chance that they apply for the job. Try before buying — OSS doesn’t cost a cent. If you want to try it out first, no one is stopping you. Getting the system adapted to best meet your needs will come with a bill to pay, but this also gives you an immediate return on investment.

I strongly believe that open-source is a good way to achieve mind-blowing new solutions. Open-source is a good investment in the future. Open-source applications are continually evolving in real-time as developers fix, enhance and modify the source code. Despite the many benefits of open-source, in some cases, it can be not that helpful. The difficulty to get used to, compatibility issues are some of the main disadvantages of OSS.

OSS is the best possible solution, especially for new businesses. Many business owners use open-source software because it has little or no cost at all. If you are choosing OSS for a business, the first thing you need to do is research and evaluate all your options. Make sure that you gauge: — all the available features of the software, the stability of the product, its compatibility with your existing systems and equipment. Also, do not forget to check whether the vendor provide regular and timely security updates or patches and there is enough documentation available to support installation, setup, and troubleshooting. If you do your due diligence, there’s nothing to worry about.

I hope you guys learned something new about open source software and its capabilities. Comment below and let me know your opinions and thoughts about OSS. Keep in touch for more cool stuff! ❤️