Open source helps the company to

Photo: Opensource.erve

A few years ago, publicizing the source code was a very unusual act for a company that just bought a line of proprietary software products. However, this is one of the measures to compete and exist in the market today.

Integrated Computer Solutions in Massachusetts (USA) has directed Project.net project management software they bought on January 1 in this way to gain advantage over proprietary rivals. They want to expand customer base by allowing free downloads and will benefit from support services contracts.

" If we distribute products at lower prices than average, we are likely to attract more users, especially small and outside companies ," said Peter Winston, CEO. Integrated Computer Solutions, said.

John Newton, founder of Documentum Company in 1990 with "closed code" software to help customers manage digital documents, emphasized: " This is the only way, the future of software, is inevitable trend ". Newton is currently the Technical Director of Alfresco, a London (UK) company that is developing and offering the same toolkit but publicizing the source code.

However, many people refuse to follow this path, including Diane Greene, Chairman of VMware. She believes that proprietary software is a good business as long as firms make improvements, innovate in front of their competitors, and explore ways to expand products as far as possible.

In contrast, EMC Group is releasing two versions of free virtual machine software for servers and computers to speed up the process of product approval and dissemination. BEA Systems, which is a monopoly company, announced plans to switch to open code. The exclusive 'Expert' in Microsoft also increasingly integrates more open source features for their products.

PT