Synaxiom Media Group Inc.

Advantages to Using Open Source Software

• No cost to acquire the software and no licensing fees
• Software has been perfected by a community of developers worldwide and usually runs very smoothly and has very few problems.
• Since it is a "free" software, money for a project can be devoted to customization and implementation and results in a more complete solution
• Open source software are often much easier to customize than commercial software because the source code is readily available and therefore can be adapted to perfectly suit the users needs. The source code is not available when using proprietary software as the code is kept secret for competitive reasons. Therefore such applications have limitations in terms of their flexibility and capacity to be tailored exactly to your needs.
• Open source software are constantly being updated and adapted to today's market providing you with a well rounded software
• Open source systems are often developed using open tools such as PHP and Perl preventing you from being locked-in with specific vendors or software packages. There is also more support available for open tools.
• Many open source software were designed with integration in mind and are therefore usually much easier to integrate with other applications than the typical commercial software.
• The extensive community of developers involved in open source software provide online support that cannot be matched by a single company developing a commercial software
• Problems that arise with open source software are often rectified very quickly through postings in the online forums where developers worldwide work to resolve the issue. Commercial software companies often take anywhere from 6-12 months to create a patch to resolve or debug any existing problems.

Disadvantages to Open Source Software

• Open Source Software do not come with the same 'out of the box' deployment as typical commercial applications and therefore the service cost may be higher. However, in most cases, this cost is offset by the fact that Open Source Applications do not have licensing or acquiring fees attached to them. The appropriate solution should be discussed with an experienced consultant prior to making a choice on which path to take.
• Most open source software are targeted to small and medium sized businesses and may lack many of the options provided by large corporate commercial software.
• Although the online support for open source software is quite large they do not come with your typical guarantee and one-on-one support expected with commercial applications.
• Open source software do not come with any sort of manual or documentation on how to use or customize them whereas most commercial applications will provide basic steps on their implementation and tend to be more user friendly. Open source applications were designed by developers for developers and therefore usually require more experienced staff than if you were to use commercial applications.