Some people may wonder when I am going to run out of reasons to move to Open Source. I feel like I have the opposite problem. I find it difficult to limit the number of reasons I highlight to move to open source.
I remember back in the 80’s and 90’s everything software-related was focused on “best of breed”. Best of breed was a term that made companies and organization feel special. It made them feel like a solution was tailored to fit their specific problem. Best of breed appealed to egos but mostly it was a term created by a marketer trying to sell product.
Soon, best of breed went the way of other boom technology terms such as robust. However, perhaps in times like today when retro is in, best of breed may make a comeback as the #6 reason to move to open source is the ability engage with a community to get specific requirements into a product.
Governments do not need to settle for the packaged solutions that a vendor is selling them. They can take existing open source solutions, join the community process, and add the features that are right for them, not what a vendor “thinks” is right for them. This is happening all over the government in the Intelligence agencies with examples like FMAC and SE Linux in places like NASA with the World Wind Java 3D project DISA's Government Forge.mil project and many, many, more.
Open source code creates a vehicle for a community of developers (including government organizations and the SIs) to contribute creating applications that meet the government’s requirements. Much like the community development process undertaken by the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), open source put thousands of developers available to develop a truly customized solution made by the masses. NHIN The Office of the National Coordinator developed a pilot 'Reference Implementation' solution based on Sun's open source middleware software that enables multiple federal agencies and private sector organizations to securely link their existing systems to NHIN-CONNECT, allowing for the beginnings of a true interoperable electronic health care record information exchange. The pilot was developed with no need for long procurement cycles or massive costs since the entire software backbone is 100% open source.
I am toying with the idea of posting two more blogs on reason 7 and 8 to move to open source...stay tuned 
