Open source benefits
How the most demanding enterprise customers benefit.
As an open source project, Bacula provides additional benefits that incumbent commercial vendors cannot or will not offer: a total absence of software license costs and the availability of complete source code. This frees users from dependence on the proprietary source vendor for support and product enhancements, as well as from license-based maintenance and upgrade fees.
Bacula also provides users the security of knowing that the software will always be available in the future, without restriction, and can never be discontinued. Bacula is a truly open platform that can meet the needs of the most demanding enterprise customers today, and offer the flexibility to grow and expand as needs change.
- Flexibility and Freedom
- Auditability
- Reliability
- Stability
- Cost
- No “Vendor Lock-in”
- Customization
- Safety of Investment
- Innovation
Organisations that engage with open source software can customize it to attain efficiency benefits or to better suit their own working practices. They can also protect themselves to some extent from vendor lock-in, or the possible obsolescence of the software they use. Enterprises often view Open Source as a superior alternative to inflexible proprietary solutions that typically cannot respond quickly to evolving market needs
A rarely-understood benefit of Open Source software (any software where the source code is published) is its auditability. Closed-source software forces its users to trust the vendor when claims are made for qualities such as security, freedom from backdoors, adherence to standards and flexibility in the face of future changes. If the source code is not available those claims remain simply claims. By publishing the source code, authors make it possible for users of the software to have confidence that there is a basis for those claims.
Continual improvement to the code through contributions from the Open Source community mean there is a resulting quality of code that is open and accessibly to scrutiny by anyone.
Software that has freely-readable and usable source code can be modified, improved, reviewed, tested, and sampled. Experienced developers and even beginning programmers can add ideas, take ideas and improve code in many ways. This improves quality, reliability and stability.
Zero-cost licenses are not the only benefit of Open Source. Combining the savings of licensing with reasonably-priced support presents key opportunity to develop innovative solutions. When costs and licensing are no longer a barrier, unlimited possibilities open up. The lower costs of Open Source reduce risk and TCO for an enterprise’s application infrastructure.
Organisations are said to be “locked-in” to software products when the costs of switching to alternatives are prohibitively high. Proprietary software vendors can lock users in to their products by ensuring that they are not readily compatible with potential rivals. Vendors may then increase the price of product upgrades or support without too great a risk of losing existing customers.
Closed source applications can only be customized or adapted by the original vendor. Open source applications may be customized by anyone with the requisite skill. Thus, open source software can be readily adapted to meet specific user needs. For businesses or educational institutions, the ability to customize source code may enable improvements to the best practice provided by default installations, therefore improving efficiency and possibly providing a competitive advantage.
When a customer hires an Open Source developer, they are guaranteed access to the product long after that programmer is finished. This is in contrast with closed source applications, where moving away from the parent company means the investment is lost. With Open Source, the customer has all the code he or she paid to develop, and can pass it on to another consultant in the future.
Lower cost ties into all the other aspects mentioned on this page, especially innovation. Combining the benefits of licensing and costs presents a key opportunity to provide innovative solutions. When costs and licensing are no longer a barrier, unlimited possibilities open up.
