Open Source Software Myths
Introduction
When reading articles on the Internet, I often see blog and forum posts that state that open source software is the way to go. I also see all of the methods of communication above that don’t like open source software, usually because of stereotypes. This post will be dedicated to debunking those stereotypes.
The Stereotypes
You can’t make money off of open source software
This one is debunked very easily. There is a list of 46 ways to make money off open source (the title of that webpage wrongly says that there are 101 ways listed), and it’s been discussed to death on Slashdot.
Anybody can see the code of open source security software, so it’s not secure
That is wrong. There are plenty of very good open source security software out there that does not have its security compromised because it’s open source.
Open source software is only available for Linux
There are so many examples that defeat this myth, that I can’t list them all. I will try to list a few popular Linux apps that are available on Windows.
If you want to run a Linux app that is not available on Windows, you can try out andLinux, LINA, or Wubi. This myth is clearly busted.
UPDATE: There is also Ulteo.
Open source software is hard to use
This is a very general statement. It might apply to the user interface of say, Blender, but since you can do such complex things with Blender, you can’t expect the user interface to be intuitive to the beginner. An expert has a different idea of what is intuitive than the beginner.
Now, there are plenty of applications that are easy to use. Ubuntu Linux is known for being a very easy to use Linux distribution. There are plenty of easy-to-use applications, like Amarok, that you can download using Synaptic or Adept.
You have to compile all open source software
On Linux, this depends on what distribution you use. You might find yourself compiling a lot more software when you are using Slackware than when you are using Ubuntu.
If you are not comfortable with compiling, you can use Ubuntu or any of the Linux applications that are available for Windows.
Open source software is all about people having the freedom to contribute code. Since few users have the ability to contribute code, and even fewer have the time to do so, the ability to contribute code is pointless.
This is a very common myth. It is true that few people might contribute code. This does not mean that a lot of the software’s users will not find the contributed code useful. One developer could write a plugin that instantly makes an application the favorite of large numbers of users.
A great example of this is Firefox. Firefox would not have its popularity if it weren’t for the hundreds and hundreds of extensions that make it vastly more powerful.
You can’t get commercial support for open source software
There are places where you can get commercial support for open source software. If you’re running Ubuntu, you can get Canonical’s paid support.
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