1. Open Source: A Threat or an Opportunity?
Ever since the advent of Open Source Software (OSS), people have wondered about its impact. Is
it a good thing that breeds innovation, or is it a dangerous thing that will put traditional
software companies out of business? Even today as its popularity continues to grow, many are
unsure of how they feel about it.
The truth is that fears about OSS are often unfounded. There are reasons for its popularity
that have more to do with functionality and flexibility than with cost, and the new dynamic that
OSS has brought to the technology world is actually a step in the right direction. By
commoditizing the software market, it prohibits vendors from becoming complacent and
propels us all much further than we might have gone without it. Here are some of the ways in
which OSS can actually work for and not against us.
What is OSS?
OSS is software that permits the use and modification of its source code by anyone. It is
characterized by some of the following attributes:
• Free redistribution: The software can be freely given away or sold, enabling frictionless idea
transmission.
• Source code: The source code must either be included or freely obtainable.
• Derived works: Redistribution of modifications must be allowed.
This phenomenon started with hardware before moving into infrastructure areas like
operating systems, where the most exciting advances have been made (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD).
Next came middleware like database servers (e.g. PostgreSQL) and webservers (e.g. Apache).
Next came applications that tend to be general enough to appeal to a wide demographic. For
example, you would not find an OSS application for managing a dry cleaning store, but you can
find plenty of OSS applications for time tracking or general budgeting. It happens more slowly
in this space than it previously did, though the industry continues to shift and blaze new trails.
Should Companies Be Worried?
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) recently released the 2010 Special
301 Report on Copyright Protection & Enforcement which claims that open source is responsible
for a "tidal wave of losses in U.S. jobs and competitiveness." Indonesia was recently added to the
'Special 301 watch list' because its government encouraged its agencies to use open source
software. Many in the open source and technology community have found this indictment
ridiculous, yet it illustrates a very real fear that some groups still feel about the open source
movement Years ago, internal emails from Microsoft were accidentally released that exemplified
this fear, stating, "OSS poses a direct, short-term revenue and platform threat to Microsoft,
particularly in server space. Additionally, the intrinsic parallelism and free idea exchange in OSS
has benefits that are not replicable with our current licensing model and therefore present a
long-term developer mindshare threat."

2. Yet some thought leaders disagree. Daniel Tunkelang, chief scientist for Endeca, has said,
“Open source drives innovation by making yesterday's technology a commodity, forcing
proprietary vendors to innovate in order to justify their paychecks.” Such a process is great for
consumers and for technology in general because it forces companies to move to new value
delivery areas. In fact, some believe that open source software providers now have to innovate
just as much as traditional software providers do for fear of being squeezed out by even newer
OSS solutions.
Not only that, but there are also areas in which software companies actually have an
advantage. In his blog post, “How to Compete Against Open Source Competition,” Rob Walling
writes, “As a developer I’ve probably had contact with 300 open source projects, components,
and applications. I estimate 80% of them required substantially more time to install, use, or
maintain than commercial counterparts.” His argument is that what you don't spend in money
you will spend in time and energy. (Walling does, however, acknowledge that there are
exceptions to the rule, saying, “When an open source project gets enough talented people
working on it, it can become a downright masterpiece.”)
Our Experience
As a company, Journyx has benefited from the OSS movement. Though we are not an open
source company, our software was built on open source tools like Linux, Python, Apache and
PostgreSQL. These tools have allowed us to ship a free product for over a decade. Hundreds of
thousands of people have downloaded Journyx Timesheet software for free thanks to OSS.
There are now thousands of OSS competitors for Timesheet, which has forced us to change
the company in order to focus on people with harder, more complicated problems. We soon
learned that this is a part of the market where we can add the most value, leading us to develop
and release our latest product, ProjectXecute. Of course, most people would love to sit around
and collect checks without having to innovate, but that is not how the world works.
The Future
As time goes on and more people around the world get online, competition is going to get
even worse. While OSS does force you to innovate in order to stay in business, so do non-OSS
competitors. The fact of the matter is that next year, you have to add more business value than
you are adding this year or you're done.
Data will always get through. Once you publish and release it, you lose control over it – that
is the nature of information. Someone invented the wheel, and it's too late to patent it. Rather
than trying to change this inevitable fact, companies should focus on the benefits of OSS and
learn how to leverage and work with it to bring top quality solutions to their customers every
time.
Reference Link: http://www.hr.com/en/app/blog/2011/11/open-source-a-threat-or-an-
opportunity-_guha4j86.html