How To Benefit From Open Source Software

Open source software has been available since the inception of software. ‘Open source’ software is the digital equivalent of ‘for the community, by the community’. Imagine a bunch of users and developers pairing together and solving each other’s problems as a community with active communication and feedback.

In today’s day and age, more and more software developers and entrepreneurs are choosing the model of Software as a Service (SaaS). Under this model, software is sold as a service for which regular fees are incurred, instead of a one-time purchase. Sounds familiar? If you’ve ever signed up for a subscription service, this probably follows one of the many variants of the SaaS model. While such a business model has its merits and purposes, it’s not always fair to the consumer. The consumer ends up paying a fixed price on a regular basis, whether he or she uses the services to its fullest capabilities. Cue in operating systems, word processors, presentation software, photo / video editing software, and even videogames are strapped with cloud-support, and slowly being sold as SaaS. Almost all tech companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Spotify, etc., have completely shifted to this model, or are shifting towards it. Whatever happened to paying for something and just owning it, period?

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In such times, open source software has become more relevant than ever, and this article explores how as users and developers, we can get together as community and benefit from open sourcing our software needs and purposes.

Understanding Open Source Further

The business model of open source software is more or less the same as that of SaaS. However, open source software is completely free of charge, and users are encouraged to use it for any purpose. The only thing they have to do is share their improvements with the community. Developers can earn money by offering paid support, services, or even products based on the open source software product.

An example of an open source company is Red Hat, which offers support services for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), an enterprise-grade operating system that competes directly with Microsoft Windows Server. Red Hat earns money by offering support services for RHEL, and in turn provides RHEL for free to its users under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Quality Open Source Software Alternatives For Common Applications

Below, you can find a few examples quality open source alternatives to paid proprietary SaaS software:

• Microsoft Windows / Mac OS -> Linux
• Microsoft Office  -> OpenOffice, LibreOffice
• Adobe Photoshop  -> GIMP
• Adobe Audition  -> Audacity
• Adobe Premiere Pro  -> DaVinci Resolve
• Apple iMovie  -> OpenShot, Pitivi
• Microsoft Outlook -> Thunderbird

Open Source Software Has its Flaws

As one would expect, it is often the case that the open source counterpart to a paid software lacks the same finishing quality and perfection. Often, users find bugs that could even be annoying. However, it is a small pain one has to undergo in order to reap gains in the long run. As the notion goes, it is ‘for the community, by the community. Or in other words ‘one for all, and all for one’.

Ideally, annoying bugs and issues are communicated to the community, and solutions and hot-fixes are implemented either by the community or the company providing software support. In any case, once you go through an iteration once, it becomes clear that it is easier than you think.

The Decision

On the other hand, the argument: “Why not go for the paid software which is perfect for my needs?” also holds. But in the long run, monopolistic and capitalistic practices are likely going to drive the prices of software exorbitantly high.

I’m not saying that it is always possible to have the patience and time to support open source software, but in cases where it is possible, it would help our long term future as software users if more and more people choose to support open source software. Some open source software have gotten so good that they are either competing or are far better than the paid competition. Wikipedia (although not strictly software) is a strong example of such open source technology completely out-performing its competition (which was Encyclopedia Britannica back in the day).

What’s Next

Now that we know what open source software means, we can start looking into alternatives and customizing them as per our needs and wants. Open source software is a great way to free oneself from the shackles of paying a lot of money on a regular basis for a single license for a program that costs a lot less to develop. So, go ahead and use open source software wherever possible; we support the gesture!

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Further reading that might interest you: Are We Living in a Simulation and How To Bear Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence.