Open/Closed Source free essay sample

Over the past twenty or so years, there has been a never ending debate within the computing social realms, on whether software operating systems should be developed as open source or whether private companies should keep their source code closed from users of the software. This paper will define open source and closed source software models. In addition, a comparison between open source and closed source operating systems will be examined. Finally, examples of each type of operating system will be given. Closed source software is designed and developed by either a private company or person. Only the final executable product is released to its customers. The source code is essentially locked away and restricted from being viewed, modified, and re-distributed by anyone not having any ownership or licensing rights to the software. These types of applications are copy right or protected as intellectual property. Open source software on the other hand, enables the end users the ability to utilize the software, the right to view, modify, and distribute the source code as long as the original developers are given their due credit. We will write a custom essay sample on Open/Closed Source or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The main benefit to producing closed source software is to make money, and to create a business of developing software that can only be redistributed with the purchase of a license to do so. In addition, the companies or individuals who develop the source code, have complete control over the inner workings of the software. Open source software, on the other hand, has a much broader explanation for its foundation. Many developers see open source as a way to contribute and make a difference. Others support open source so as not to rely on any single person or company for their software needs. Still, others see it as a way to compete against certain companies who may want to monopolize the industry. As stated above, closed source software is developed as a product to be sold to a customer. The benefits to purchasing this type of software is the support it provides along with the purchase. Most software companies who sell their product will also provide a manual so that the user has a means to learn how to operate the software. Live support is also supported in most instances. If a user has a problem with the software, help is most likely just a phone call away. A down side to closed source is that companies have only few versions of the software they develop. These developers have to constantly be updating the software through patches. If these patches are not updated consistently, problems may arise. As an example, a security flaw affecting the version of windows and in turn millions of computers was discovered in June of 2003. Most users failed to apply the patch that was issued and within a few weeks a virus was written to exploit this vulnerability. The result was many networks around the world being brought to a crawl, clogged by the traffic produced by this program spreading freely. Open source applications, in many cases, do not provide any type of support. The user is most often left to figure out his or her issues. In addition, open source tends to be tailored more for an experienced user rather than a novice. Nevertheless, open source code is available to anyone. The code for this software is analyzed by many more people than its closed source counterpart. Security tends to be better in open source than in closed source software. Since this type of platform is used mainly by the more advanced user, security takes priority over convenience. A good example is the way Microsofts Outlook Express deals with email compared to Linux or UNIX equivalents. In Linux, first an attachment is saved to disk, marked as executable, and then run. Outlook Express has a preview pane running by default, so when clicked on a message, Outlook automatically goes searching around in the message. If there is anything malicious in the message, the computer is probably going to get infected. An example of a closed source operating system is the Windows operating system developed and sold by the Microsoft Corporation. It is a closed source operating system based on the graphical user interface (GUI) platform. This operating system currently holds over 90% of personal computer market share. An example of an open source operating system is Linux, which was originally developed in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. It is one of the most prominent open source operating systems today. It is a leading operating system on servers and other systems such as mainframe computers and super computers. More than 90% of the fastest supercomputers run a variant of the Linux operating system. In conclusion, this paper defined open source and closed source software models.  In addition, a comparison between open source and closed source operating systems was examined. Finally, examples of each type of operating system were given.