Open Source Software Produces ROI Because of Customization

Over the last decade especially, we have seen open source technology rise into the limelight. Businesses are identifying room for open soure in their strategy and processes and there is even a man attempting to live an open source life for a year. O'Reilly Radar appropriately focuses on the former in their recent article, "Open Source Community Collaboration Strategies for the Enterprise."

With OSCON just behind us, we thought it would be a good idea to provide a refresher for what open source software entails. 

According to the article referenced above:

[O]pen source is the pragmatic expression of the ethical idea of “software freedom,” articulated in various ways for several decades by communities around both Richard Stallman’s GNU Project and the BSD project. The elements of open source and free software are simple to grasp; software freedom delivers the rights to use, study, modify and distribute software for any purpose, and the Open Source Definition clarifies one area of that ethical construct with pragmatic rules that help identify copyright licenses that promote software freedom.

The article delves into many more nuances and intricacies within various open source communities. However, it is one thing to read about strategy and another to implement it. The bottom line is that the customization possible within open source software will be the main factor in producing ROI.

Megan Feil, July 23, 2012