Open Source Initiative

The computing world is largely divided, friends. While many (myself included, for my first few years of computing) are blissfully unaware of the issue, an increasing number are joining the fray and expressing their opinion as to which way is superior.

The opposing sides can be summed up thusly: proprietary vs. open source.

I will at this point make it clear that I am firmly behind the open source movement.

Here's what the open source movement is NOT, despite the impression many have: it is NOT anti-Microsoft. However, much of what it promotes DOES go against Microsoft's stated policies.

The battle rages from water cooler debates all the way to the Massachusetts state legislature deciding whether to adopt its XML file structure for documents (against Microsoft's strong and public protests).

As I freely admit, I have taken a side here. Therefore, those who eschew all-Microsoft shops may as well stop reading now. And again, I'm not bashing the Redmond Giant. But I am endorsing a philosophy that they have publicly declared to be (most ironically) not secure by nature, economically unfeasible for business use, and greater in overall cost than buying their products.

Open source isn't a perfect solution YET. But it does, for the most part, integrate quite freely with Microsoft's structure. And while I'm not recommending businesses and home users to reformat their PC's hard drives and install Linux, I am suggesting that they look at the possibility of integrating open source solutions.

Here are two examples: I have installed Redhat's Fedora 4 onto an old PC with a 500 Mhz processor. It is now my mp3 file server, and integrates flawlessly with my XP Pro desktop PC. It doesn't have near enough processor power to run Microsoft's OS (plus, I couldn't afford another license), but it serves up music (and acts as my backup machine to essential files) perfectly on open source Linux, and runs for months without rebooting!

Example two: I develop web applications in php and MySQL (both open source) that run flawlessly on a Windows 2003 Server-equipped machine at my place of employment. They run much faster than similar ASP.NET apps that communicate with Microsoft SQL Server.

So enjoy today's FamilyFirst site: Open Source Initiative (I can't believe I haven't mentioned them yet!). And by all means, give open source applications a try. Then decide if they are for you.

http://www.opensource.org

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