Like many businesses looking to increase productivity and efficiency without shelling out the extra bucks, you also must have thought about exploring the world of open source software.

After all, it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot for Photoshop or Microsoft Office with better, more efficient and less costly (sometimes free) software available in the market!

Why should you even fork a ton of money on the newest Windows operating system for your business’s computer system when other cheap alternatives are easily available?

It does make sense to choose the cheaper alternative for some web applications. However, using open source software isn’t all milk and honey.

Try and learn more about this type of software before implementing in your operation.

Open Source Software – What It’s All About

It is a term that refers to something which can be modified and shared as its design is publically accessible. The term open source is normally used in the concept of software development, to design computer programs using a different or specific approach.

Understanding Open Source Software

It is simple software with source code that allows barrier free access to content. Any software with such an open source code can be inspected, modified, and enhanced by people.

Source code is the part of software program that cannot be seen i.e. most computer users don’t ever see it. This is the code that individuals (programmers and hackers) manipulate and use to change entire aspects of a program or application. They can change how it works.

Still planning to give open source software a chance? Following are some advantages that can convince any company to try this type of software:

• Cheaper than commercially marketed software
• Helps an organisation become more flexible
• Created by expert programmers
• Highly reliable and efficient

As mentioned above, it’s not always milk and honey when it comes to using OSS. There are some disadvantages of this type of software, the first and most important one being security vulnerabilities.

While all software has some bugs and internal vulnerabilities – OSS has the added disadvantage of being used by malicious users for their own gain.

Older software usually has more security vulnerabilities that often go undetected or unreported. Make sure the OSS you are using isn’t out-of-date by many months or years.

You can have the web application security services of Lean Security at your beck and call during implementation of OSS or even closed sourced software. Check out our full service catalogue here.