Open Source Versus Closed Source Software Essay

Open reference point Versus Closed Source Software - Essay exemplarCurrently, thither are a huge number of categories of the circulate quotation computer software program that include besides not limited to the Application Software, Operating Systems, Programming Languages and Server Software. Under each category there are many items / applications, for example, the application software include Mozilla Firefox a web browser, OpenOffice an office suit, Eclipse an compound get aroundment environment, 7-zip a file archiver or compressor etc. The operating systems include the Linux, Android a ready OS, FreeBSD etc. The open source computer programming languages include PHP a scripting language white plagued to develop websites, Perl, Ruby etc. The open source server software include Apache a web server, Joomla a web content management system etc. Closed Source Software Closed source software also known as copyrighted software is computer software which is only functi onal without source code and licensed under limited legal right as per provided by the copyright owner. The buyer of the propriety software is permitted to use the software having restrictions on modifications, redistribution, update / upgrade or shiner engineering and it is typically owned by a single organization. The vendors usually provide an executable or compiled form of the software applications source code so that only the central affect unit of the computer can understand the machine language that cannot be converted into the source code. The propriety software is not allowed to redistribute or sharing the software with others, in case anybody else wanted to use the proprietary software it is required to purchase another unique license of the software. In other words, the proprietary software is the property of the owner / developer / publisher that cannot be copied or modified, with an appropriate price and need to respect the license agreement (National Taiwan Univers ity, 1991). Like the open source software, the proprietary software has much more categories of the software include Operating System, Computer Programming Languages, software applications, public domain software, private software etc. There are several examples including Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Programming languages ASP.Net etc., Microsoft Office etc. Open vs. Closed Source Software Advantages and Disadvantages For every advantage there exists disadvantage, therefore, both types of software have there exist advantages as well as disadvantages. Lets talk about the advantages of both types, the advantages of the open source software include free of cost, right to modify and redistribute the source code, the technology neutral or the open source software can be used with other software, license and flexibility of having multiple vendors, juicy security, quality, customizability, interoperability and audibility. Open Source software tends to be free of dependency on related p roducts. Purchasers often cover that the product works best with other products from the same manufacturer. Open Source software offers its users greater freedom to purchase other products, avoiding lock-in to particular manufacturers. (QinetiQ, 2001) There are many disadvantages of the open source software as compared to the closed source software that include but not limited to the slight availability of support, updates, less reliability as anyone can change / edit the code and