There is an open-source alternative for almost every proprietary application. It is just a matter of finding it. While I don’t exclusively use open-source software, I prefer it over proprietary software for several reasons.
1
Cost-Effectiveness
The source code of an open-source application is available to the public for use, modification, and distribution. While open-source applications aren’t always free, a large proportion of them are. This is the major reason why open-source is sometimes confused with free.
There are commercial open-source applications like Docker, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, GitLab, and IntelliJ IDEA. However, most open-source applications are completely free, a concept known as free and open-source (FOSS), and charge to license open-source software for commercial use. The developers may sometimes require a voluntary donation from the users, but there are usually no one-time fees or lifetime subscription costs.
Open-source software presents a cost-effective alternative to the sometimes predatory pricing models used by some software companies such as Adobe. A professional designer might be able to justify the huge expense of the Creative Cloud, but a dabbler like myself is very happy with Gimp and Inkscape.
Open-source software is sometimes classified as “free,” but this refers to “free as in freedom and not free-of-charge.” However, truly open-source software can be used for free with sufficient technical know-how, even if under a commercial license.
2
Transparency and Security
Due to the transparency of its source code and openness of its development, open-source software is considered more secure than closed-source software. This is based on Linus’ law by Eric Raymond, which states that “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.”
An open-source application with an active community and expert volunteers is less likely to be riddled with bugs, malware, and other vulnerabilities. Proprietary software is less transparent by design and may include backdoors, bugs, and errors that go undetected.
While open-source software is not secure by default, it can be examined by independent experts and requires little faith in the original developer. Using proprietary software demands that you trust the person selling it to you.
3
Documentation and Community Support
Since open-source licensing allows more users access to the product, these applications tend to have a more active community compared to proprietary software. The larger user base means that there are more people contributing code, tutorials, translations, user guides, and reviews for the product. Also, open-source projects tend to be very community-driven, with an open feedback loop to ensure the software is designed for its users and has little feature bloat.
This contrasts with proprietary applications, where important decisions are usually made without involving the users. Like Evernote’s price hikes, major changes may be made at a moment’s notice. Some proprietary tools may offer considerable documentation, especially for beginners looking to get started. There is less incentive to create documentation for open-source projects. However, open-source documentation tends to be more comprehensive and detailed when available.
4
Customizability and Sustainability
By design, proprietary tools prevent you from seeing what is running in the backend and making adjustments. On the other hand, open-source software takes you from being a consumer to an active participant in the development lifecycle.
Unlike proprietary software, which restricts you to passive roles—installing, using, and waiting for updates—open-source software lets you engage with the code and modify the software to meet your needs, fix bugs, or add features. The WordPress content management system is a good example of how modular open-source software can be.
The freedom of participation means that open-source projects can remain in active development even if the original developer stops contributing. For example, Linus Torvalds currently contributes little code to the Linux kernel, but the project will continue for a long time through its various distros.
Open-source software is extremely beneficial to both users and developers in the ecosystem. While the open-source philosophy is perfect, it does suffer in implementation. A good number of open-source projects are developed for a technical user base and tend to be unintuitive for regular users. Project maintainers may be unresponsive or hard to deal with, and a project may stall due to a lack of funding. However, open-source software powers the modern world, and we should all aim to use and contribute more to open-source projects.
