Today, IT security is crucial for company success and companies invest heavily in security more than ever before. The pressing needs for transformation in the information security sector are demonstrated by the progress in digital technology and hacking, such as intrusion detection systems, honeynets, and other security-related hardware and software solutions.
According to the office of management and budget, the US government spends about $6bn per year on licensed software and maintenance. Given the scale of that spending, it's understandable that the US, like other administrations around the world, is considering open-source software and open software standards as a way of saving money. But more than just seeing the move to open source solutions as a cost-effective alternative, public officials worldwide view it as a means of speeding up innovation in the public services sector.
New America invested in two programs namely Digital Impact and Governance Initiative (DIGI) and Public Interest Technology (PIT) and some reports from these two programs will provide policymakers and technologists with some much-needed help to create and harness open source solutions in an effective manner. According to New America,
“Deploying technology solutions that use open-source software is an important step to building better government services. Utilizing open source systems by default could also foster a stronger level of trust in public institutions."
Challenge Associated with Open-Source
After all, the adoption of open-source software has its drawbacks as well. This is especially important when, for instance, the applications in question use personal data for digital transformation. Some other open-source software policy challenges are:
- Companies must cope with a large number of new software sources — some utilize OSS from hundreds of different sources, both commercial and non-commercial vendors.
- Complexity can be created by the integration of several third-party components. Software version consistency across many interdependent stacks of code is one area of difficulty.
- Open source projects range from amateur exercises to professional releases that have been tested. The proper quality level for each application must be selected by your company.
While many Linux distributions and applications have large businesses capable of providing robust assistance for themselves, most free software programs with web security, which force the administrators to work hard on developing them, depend on the technical help and knowledge of the user community.
Open-Source Software as a Company
What do open source solutions have to do?
A community that has committed time and effort in technological learning with the creation of functions, bug patches, and do on the Internet, we build sophisticated software more quickly. Most of our business has migrated from our own software policy to the integration of already functional parts.
For instance, open-sourcing does not erase the copyright of software created and funded by the government leaders that use open software. The custom-written software should also be explicitly defined as cautionary in the procurement of digital services with suppliers, ownership, and copyright in contract agreements. If the program cannot be placed in the public services domain if its jurisdiction cannot be owned. augmentation.
Open source also lets people contribute and not just consume software to build a digital infrastructure as it changes a user's role from merely reporting issues to correcting them. It also allows users to create "content" – in other words, additional functionalities – and influence project blueprints. Today, by leveraging open source components available freely.
Debunking the Myths of Open-Source Software
Open-Source is Free
Many individuals are more drawn to open-source software because they assume open-source software is free to use and software expenditures will seldom be incurred in the future. On the right note, open-source does not mean open source code, and if you enroll in a certain community you may readily access the source code of any web system.
All Open-Source Software is Linux Based
This myth is one of the most popular and fair to believe, especially when people are new to the open-source scene or start their careers. When people discuss OSS, the quick and typical assumption is that OSS is running on the Linux operating web systems. It is an easy and quick hypothesis to create Linux as a primary motivation as many open source apps.
Benefits of OSS for the Government
Offers a Flexible Common Solution
Switching to open source does not just imply a rejection of continuous software alerts and requests, but also flexibility and customizability. Open-source indicates that there is access and customization to the source code. Government agencies may simply customize and fully own open-source software to fit their own demands and needs.
Quality and Convenient Collaboration
Some developers build proprietary software, whereas numerous developers create open-source software. The open-source also assures good testing and code review that even the government agencies themselves are capable of performing to verify suppliers' quality assurance. More notable is that open-source software creators might involve future consumers, making the program something closer to what users actually desire.
No Vendor Dependence
You are not in a relationship with a certain software business when it comes to open source. When the code is open, you may move your company elsewhere, if you need it, to obtain the assistance you need.
Untapped Potential
The software industry of open source software has transformed for good. There is now very little software that exploits and monopolizes its customers, as there is an alternate open-source application that offers the same features and costs for the user. As more and more users and developers become aware of the many OSS systems available, this may have a major influence on the planet itself since more and more developers are involved in building something great and can alter our future for good.
As the user base expands in the future, OSS will also have a major advantage over its competitors for data privacy. The program will remain stale without any competition on the market and for years you will use the same features as you have no alternative but to substitute for the software.
Finally, we would want to emphasize that Open source is the future, which doesn't necessarily imply that it will destroy proprietary software since we can see that both competitors assist each other to achieve their best.
References
[1].https://www.ZDNet.com/article/white-house-us-must-open-source-custom-code-to-boost-reuse-cut-wasted-dev/
[2].https://www.new America.org/digital-impact-governance-initiative/blog/why-should-governments-use-open-source-solutions/
[3].https://hitinfrastructure.com/news/benefits-of-open-source-software-to-healthcare-community
[4].https://www.govtech.com/opinion/four-myths-about-open-source-in-government-contributed.html
[5].https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2016/m-16-12_1.pdf
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