Is Open Source Software a Viable Alternative for My Company?

Open source software is definitely an option for small businesses. In fact, most companies are using open source software, but they may not even realize it. If your Web site is running on the UNIX platform, it probably uses Apache Web server software or the PHP scripting language, both of which are open source technologies.

The term "open source" is commonly used to describe software whose source code is readily available to the public to use and modify. Because you can modify the code and adapt it to your particular needs, open source is a good solution for small businesses trying to save money. You don't need to invest in a commercial solution that may come with superfluous bells and whistles. Also, you're not tied into a company's upgrade cycle and the additional license and support costs typical with a lot of commercial business software.

Another advantage of using open source software is that it helps your development team get their projects done faster by leveraging existing code. In addition, open source code is tested and constantly refined by a community of developers that is often far larger that your internal team. This results in a stream of continuous improvements to the software that you can take advantage of without having to employ the development team to make those improvements yourself.

Due to the community-contributed nature of open source software projects, it is important to understand the license implications of the software that your team might be using before incorporating open source code into your product, software, or Web site. Since not all open source software comes with the same license, there might be restrictions on how you can use or redistribute the software. For more information on open source licenses, see O'Reilly's ONLamp site.

Implementing an open source solution is not without its problems, however. Make sure that you have an IT department or consultant experienced with open source business software. Also, don't switch to open source software — or any software, for that matter — in a production environment without carefully testing your system.