The Appeal Of Open Source And The Opportunities For VARS

By Bernard Golden, Vice President, Strategy, ActiveState

Enterprise IT decision makers are now among the ranks of those taking a long look at what open source software can offer their organizations. Given the advantages, this transition comes as no surprise. VARs would do well to pay attention to this trend and be prepared to offer strategic advice and solutions that will help their enterprise customers address current and future needs.

One of these advantages is increased transparency, as the word “open” implies. Not only is the source code available, but so are all of the other attributes. That’s a far cry from the secrecy shrouding proprietary software. This openness makes it easier to evaluate the product and its community to determine if using the product is a good decision for your enterprise.

Another advantage is increased innovation. By allowing anyone to contribute code, open source products can incorporate a greater diversity of use cases. That’s not the only facet though. As the saying goes, no matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for other companies. Open source permits — and encourages — leveraging of the collective knowledge of the larger developer base. In turn, this enables access to greater innovation.

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