Open Source Software myths busted

The open source software security is a prime concern for the organizations. The concern escalates if it plans to implement it as part of their software stack. Owing to its nature of being a free and open source, and build by a publically available source code, the user organization is bound to have anxieties.

However, not all concerns hold true on the ground level.

Contrary to popular belief, OSS is not a free platform. Barring some of them like 7-Zip, Joomla, and Virtual Machine Manager, a majority of them have to be bought and come with licensing terms and conditions. Ubuntu is attached to the GNU General Public License (GPL), which makes the software available to freely use, modify, and share. Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses GPL and several other OSS, but have strict trademark rights over free usage of the same. Similarly, it charges for its closed binary modules and updates. The source code is still freely available for modifications.

Community members claim that OSS can not only match a proprietary software in terms of security, but sometimes surpass it too. A lot of major web applications are a prodigy of open source platform. Apache Web Server, the first web server software to serve more than 100 million websites is a famous example. It is the owner of more than 50 percent of the web market, including websites of PayPal, Apple, and Wikipedia. PHP is also a landmark in OSS’s path. A powerful server-side scripting language, it is used in more than 80 percent of all websites. The worldwide use and market solidarity prove that it is not as less-secure as made out to be.