Software of the proprietary kind is so-o-o last decade, darling. Catching up with the 20-teens means going open source, if you haven’t done so already. While Open Source Software does carry disadvantages as well as advantages, for the ordinary user, OSS is generally lighter, speeding up the computer’s functioning and freeing up space on the hard drive.
Drawbacks tend to hinge on fears about a shortage of rules or absence of regulation, meaning that systems possibly go untested or documentation is insufficient. Importantly, though, IT developers gain the vital ownership feel that makes them work harder on innovations, in turn making the software work ever more efficiently. Businesses and individuals get to cash in on this. In other words, the very openness of OSS means that hordes of techies busy themselves with checking systems and repairing glitches as they arise.
Proprietary formats are those that users pay for, whether within the cost of purchasing the computer (when the software often comes pre-installed), or by buying each software package. The data on the computers is sealed or locked, confining users to what the software dictates. The workings are made impenetrable and alterations and updates are within the vendor’s control. The existence of the End User License Agreement ultimately amounts to a restrictive covenant. The user is also trapped in a cycle where they are compelled to buy new software versions as they come out.Fears about security, whereby open source is seen as open to hackers who take advantage more easily of loopholes, are increasingly dismissed. Supporters of open source tend to cite, to the contrary, the frequency with which commercial software ‘goes down’ for repair.
Among Open Source benefactors are public administrations. In announcing the city-wide future use of open source software in January 2010, for example, San Francisco’s mayor Gavin Newsom, stated that it was ‘created by the people for the people’, implying that as such it is more appropriate than its commercial predecessors.