It is a common question raised in many peoples mind in the present world- "Is Open Source Movement is right for us?"Even in our college campus I've to debate with some of my proprietary favored friends who think open source is not right choice.It's a common mistake among the general people who are not introduced with open source environment that they think open source or free softwares are not so flexible or, easy to control, and over all they wanna say it as a frightening matter to the IT world. We all know, it's a time consuming matter to develop a software. Why developers open its source? What is the benefit or what's the main purpose? It's common thought of them if the source code of software is available to everyone, why dose a programmer work so hard to build a quality application? Here is the fact, they analyze the incidents from their own perspective. But they should think over the other side of the coin. Some applicationslike system software (Linux, Windows, Mac and UNIX etc.), Database Management software (MySQL, SQLite, Oracle etc.), Internet tools (Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, Evolution, Kmail, Mozilla Firefox etc.) have a responsibility to ensure highest security for their users. Proprietary Software companies always try to give a very admirable supports to the customers. But it's also true they compel their users to take service only from them. Okay, I don't want to say that they don't have the right to serve better to their customers. But what we see in other perspectives. If you buy a car you can repair it from anyone. Similarly, if you have trouble to use any electronic or simple utensils, you are not bound to take facility from one and only one companies. So, why not a software customer can take advantage from many? I can give you an example, we all know about virus attacks and crackers movement against the Microsoft world. Now we can see Microsoft can't stop them in many perspectives with its lonely effort. Microsoft works with many software companies, but software based solutions are mainly provided from Microsoft among them. So, when Microsoft failed to solve a problem, their users don't have any opportunities to rescue themselves. Though many utilities are driven into the market to keep your Windows OS perfect, they can't give you the highest support because the core of windows is unknown to them.In the Linux world, people around the world are ready to help you.Click on net, make friends and take solutions. You are not bound to use one product or one service. Here developers want to share their ideas with others and give you various opportunities to use their products. "Commercialization is not present here"-it's a common thought (which is not right) among several people. In open source world, service is the main product. Open source technologies give chances to their users to think again & ensure great service. I think the most interactive feature of using open source technology is the freedom to modify software as user needs. It's a remarkable matter that most of the open source technologies are more secured than proprietary alternatives. We can look back only a few times ago, Internet explorer defeated by Mozilla Web Browser in the battle of browser world. The hidden mystery is lying behind the source code opening strategy. You can think over the Apache server.At the primary stage of Apache web server, developers and users around the world tried to fix its security holes and built it as one of the most powerful web servers in the world. It was possible for spreading the source to mass. For this reason, Apache server could be the most popular web server in a few years. On the other hand, Microsoft 2000 and NT servers are being attacked by crackers day by day. Microsoft technology failed to prove success against millions of open minds. They can't satisfy their users with necessary security by preventing the continuous harmful approach of crackers.If you have a simple knowledge of Information Technology, I expect you have heard about SPYWARE. A user can't make him free from anxiety without ensuring that his PC free from spyware. It's greatly true for the government institutions. Proprietary software can't give you any guarantee that their products are not spyware without showing the source code. In the present situation governments of many countries like France, Germany, China, Malaysia, India use open source software for their administrative works. In U.S.A. it may be surprising information for you that White House, NASA use open source technology. In 2004, Munich migrated to Linux. The city dropped windows from 14000 desktop PCs, opting instead to go with an open source solution based on Linux. Now open world is ready to compete with the proprietary hell. Volunteers are working for hours and hours in order to spread our thought. We welcome you in the colorful area of Open World. You can find a huge number of Operating Systems, applications and development tools to welcome you. I'm sure you will grab this in a moment. At last, the main gift for you from the open source world is a large number of friends. You can share your ideas with us. We are beside you. Open Source is the other name of love for us. We are waiting for accepting your great contribution for the wellbeing of Information Technology world. Don't forget -"MILLONS OF OPEN MINDS CAN'T BE WRONG."
M Rezaur rahman
Linux Enthusiast
webweaver@dhaka.net
