Monday August 20, 2007
And the debate continues...
Few years back, businesses were afraid of using Open source software and use to follow conventional theory of "Nothing is free. You get what you pay for." Some had apprehensions about quality of the code while others feared that using GNU License would in turn force them to make their source code public.
As luck would have it, most of those concerns have subsided. Open source projects are now immensely being used by various small and big organizations.
Open source is one the best mechanism to collaborate ideas. It allows you to generate huge amount of (wild) ideas. And the best part is you have a huge audience there to judge your thoughts. One can always piggyback on someone else's creative idea. One may wish to use the idea as it is or may as well enhance the existing functionality.
While Open source software is reigning, there exist realms like banks and other financial institutions where proprietary code is still ruling. Though I am an Open source apologist by all means, I have few security concerns regarding such critical applications. I sometime wonder if I would trust a bank or a financial institution which runs on a software available to everyone. I read somewhere about certain implementations that can be employed to make open sourced software secure. Neither am I sure of such executions nor I have heard of any such implementation.
Argumentation are not only limited to Open source and Proprietary code, but have there presence felt among various Open source specifications. One such red-hot topic these days is Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) Vs Open Document Format (ODF). While the battle is on among ODF and OOXML, the Indian IT industry seems to be divided over the issue.
While some of the companies have come out patronizing OOXML, others have their argument supported by facts.
1) OOXML does not support Firefox and Opera (web browsers). It only supports IE.
2) OOXML does not support documents dated before 1900.
3) There is no provision for backward compatibility and this poses problems for third party implementers.
Techies also doubt if OOXML can ever be fully implemented by anyone else other than Microsoft (Which is one of the fundamental principal behind Open standards).
Microsoft has lost US voting pertaining to request for OOXML’s fast-track approval as an ISO standard. Meanwhile organizations in India have been asked to submit their comments by August 17. "Bureau of Indian Standards" (BIS). is scheduled to take a decision on August 23.
[updated : Added Disclaimer]
Disclaimer : The opinions expressed here represent my thoughts/views and not those of my employer. Furthermore, this blog interprets my understanding, thoughts and opinions as of the day it was jotted down. Same may change from time to time.
This is a personal weblog, I do not speak for my employer.
