Software Freedom Day @ Alexandria University 2009 – Part 3

Open Source is every where!!


Open-source software has become ubiquitous in the IT world, with wide-spread use in Fortune 500 corporations as well as in universities, developing economies, governments, and student populations.


some statistics and facts about Open Source:

- more than 2 billions phones run Java technology.

- about billion PCs run Java technology.

- There are 12 million users of the MySQL database, with another 60,000 downloads occurring every day.

-There have been more than 14 million downloads of the Solaris and OpenSolaris operating systems.

-Mozilla Firefox free Internet browser has been downloaded more than 1 billion times since it was launched in November 2004. To celebrate the achievement, Mozilla launched a new One Billion + You site for Firefox users that reflects “the wonders of the Web”.

Those numbers are some examples shows you the popularity of Open Source software and this due to the following:

benefits of using Open Source:

•Cost savings:

and provide more choice for support from communities and bulletin boards to comprehensive subscription services.

• Early access :

Open-source products are available without barriers and provide access to source code , enabling developers to meet the business requirement at minimal cost.

• Speed to innovation:

Open Source make it easy to combine projects, enabling developers to deliver

robust products and services that much faster. And it enables developers to innovate around the work of others, which shortens development cycles.

• Ease of deployment

open-source software generally provides only the essential capabilities, which makes deployment, and eventually support, much easier. Most mature open-source software now comes with easy-to-use installation software, graphical management tools, and online help.

• Freedom from vendor lock-in

Open Source software is usualy available for many platforms , it gives you felixabilty and preventing lock-in to a single company or platform.

• Greater security

Because Open Source software is developed in plain view and used by

thousands, it can’t be hacked, and bugs are quickly detected and dealt with. Open-source projects go through orders of magnitude more hours of quality assurance than their proprietary counterparts, and their robustness is tested every day. Should an issue arise, an entire community of developers stands ready to remedy it.

source:
OPEN SOURCE IN THE ENTERPRISE:
FULFILLING THE PROMISE
White Paper
July 2009