3. Less Vulnerability, Threads & higher
Security
If we use FOSS we can reduce the vulnerabilities and threads and Hacking
attempts on servers are frequent, malware, Trojans and viruses are
commonplace and tools to help the hacker are readily available.
No software is 100% immune from security vulnerabilities but the open source
process itself delivers superior security performance.
The Open Source development model and inherent security of Linux mean
vastly improved protection from attack, and consequently less downtime and
maintenance costs.
4. Security Continue…
Three reasons are often cited for FOSS’s better security record:
Availability of source code
Security focus, instead of user-friendliness
Roots
8. High Quality
Most open source programs are with high quality.
A software package created by a handful of developers.
Using open source software also means that you are not
locked in to using a particular vendor's system that only
works with their other systems.
10. AVAILABILITY OF SOURCE CODE
Open source software is the fact that everybody has the right to modify
the source code.
The implications of this are that bugs can be easily fixed.
With closed source if there is A bug in certain software the user must
wait for A new release whereas in open source the code can be
altered and the bug can be fixed.
15. LOWER ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE COST
http://www.computereconomics.com/article.cfm?id=1043
OpenSourceEHRSystemsAppendixE.pdf
LESS VULNERABILITY, THREADS & HIGHER SECURITY
http://www.nrcfoss.org.in/resources/benefits-of-using-foss
Editor's Notes
01.Availability of source code: The availability of the source code for FOSS systems has made it easier for developers and users to discover and fix vulnerabilities, often before a flaw can be exploited. Many of the vulnerabilities of FOSS listed in Bugtraq were errors discovered during periodic audits and fixed without any known exploits. FOSS systems normally employ proactive rather than reactive audits.
02.Security focus, instead of user-friendliness: FOSS can be said to run a large part of the Internet25 and is therefore more focused on robustness and functionality, rather than ease of use. Before features are added to any major FOSS application, its security considerations are considered and the feature is added only if it is determined not to compromise system security.
03.Roots: FOSS systems are mostly based on the multi-user, network-ready Unix model. Because of this, they come with a strong security and permission structure. Such models were critical when multiple users shared a single powerful server—that is, if security was weak, a single user could crash the server, steal private data from other users or deprive other users of computing resources. Consequently, vulnerabilities in most applications result in only a limited security breach.
Besides, it continually evolving in real-time as developers add and modify it, which means it can be better quality, more secure and less prone to bugs than proprietary systems, because it has so many users poring over it and weeding out problems.
This means the code can be implemented in other pieces of software and adapted to changing environments.
administration and support costs overshadow initial software license cost and annual maintenance fees--the costs that are minimized by open source
most important advantage of open source
software buyers must feel some level of dependence on proprietary software vendors
Not necessary to accept new updates
Ex Microsoft xp supports not available, apple
forced to upgrade if they want to continue receiving vendor support
Older versions of products continue to be supported through the open source community and third party support providers as long as there is demand in the marketplace for such support
Small ones unable to install and configure without the support of experties
