·
What
is Open Source Software?
o
Open
source software refers to software which the source code is made available for
use or modification as users or other developers see fit. It is usually
developed as a public collaboration and made freely available.
·
Why
people prefer open source software over proprietary alternative nowadays?
o
As open source software is usually
developed as a public collaboration and made freely available, user can download
the open source software from the internet for free of charge. There are no
license fees for an open source software, reducing annual license fees cost to
zero. Unlike proprietary software, the company that developed the software owns
the software, so no one may duplicate it or distribute it without the company
permissions. In other words, users have to pay to the software company if they
want to use the proprietary software.
o
Open source software also gives you the
power to control your software's code. You have the right to modify the code to
suit your requirements and control the budgets that you want to spend towards
it. Unlike proprietary software where the vendor controls your code, upgrades
and budgets, the users cannot modify the software as the users only receive
binary version of the program, not the code as the code is the manufacturer’s
trade secret.
o
With
open source software, you control the upgrade process and can choose to decide
which bugs to fix and when. Meanwhile, proprietary software required users to
spend a long time to downloading and installing security patches to fix bugs
announced by the manufacturer.
·
Name
top five most popular open source software and compare them with similar
proprietary software.
o
Open
Office versus Microsoft Office
Open
Office
|
Microsoft Office
|
Both are suites application that have
almost similar functions.
|
|
·
User can
download Open Office software freely from the Internet
|
·
User need to
pay to the company in order to use Microsoft Office software
|
·
User can modify
the software by using the available source code to make it better.
|
·
User cannot
modify the software at all.
|
·
Open Office can
be installed in as many computers as the users want
|
·
Each copy or
license for Microsoft Office
that
is purchased from Microsoft can only be installed at most three computers
|
·
The use of Open
Office Software is by the user’s on risk as there is no warranty that the
software is safe as anyone can modify it
|
·
The software is
guaranteed to be safe from dubious
treats like programming bugs and viruses
|
·
OpenOffice is
completely cross platform (Windows, Mac, Linux)
|
·
MS Office runs
on Windows and Mac only
|
o
GNU
Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) versus Adobe Photoshop:
GNU
Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
|
Adobe Photoshop
|
GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
and Adobe Photoshop are example of graphic software which allows user to
edit, enhance and retouch graphic. The look of the GIMP is similar to
Photoshop. Both employ toolboxes with understandable symbols.
|
|
·
User can
download Gimp software freely from the Internet
|
·
User need to
pay to the company in order to use Adobe Photoshop software
|
·
User can modify
the software by using the available source code to make it better.
|
·
User cannot
modify the software at all.
|
·
GIMP can be
installed in as many computers as the users want
|
·
Each copy or
license for Adobe Photoshop CS that is purchased from Adobe can only be
installed on one primary computer and one secondary computer.
|
·
The features in
GIMP is limited
|
·
Have more
features
|
o
Mozilla
Firefox versus Google Chrome
Mozilla
Firefox
|
Google Chrome
|
Mozilla Firefox
and Google Chrome are both web browser that can freely downloaded by the
user. They both provided almost similar basic features for the user such as auto
update.
|
|
·
The sources
code is made available to the users and they have the right to modify it.
|
·
Modifying the software
is nearly impossible as the code is manufacturer’s trade secret.
|
·
The browsing
speed for Mozilla Firefox is slower
|
·
The browsing
speed for Google Chrome is faster
|
·
Firefox has a
better add-on (extensions)
|
·
Chrome has an
impressive gallery of extensions, but not as good as Firefox
|
·
For the Linux
user, Firefox usually get jammed easily in opening of multiply tabs
|
·
Chrome is more
stable in opening multiplying tabs in all platforms and does not get jammed
easily
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