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Chapter 3 E-business infrastructure 157

Table 3.4 summarizes some of the main advantages and disadvantages of open-source soft-
ware. To gain an appreciation of the issues faced by a technical manager pondering the
open-source dilemma, complete Activity 3.4.

Table 3.4 Three advantages and three disadvantages of open-source software

Advantages of open-source software Counter-argument

1 Effectively free to purchase Cost of migration from existing systems may be high and will
include costs of disruption and staff training
2 Lower cost of maintenance since upgrades are free There is not a specific counter-argument for this, but see the
disadvantages below
3 Increased flexibility Organizations with the resources can tailor the code.
Frequent patches occur through collaborative development

Disadvantages of open-source software Counter-argument

1 Has less functionality than commercial software Simplicity leads to ease of use and fewer errors. Many
functions not used by the majority of users
2 More likely to contain bugs compared to commercial Evidence does not seem to suggest this is the case. The
software since not tested commercially modular design needed by collaborative development enables
problems to be isolated and resolved
3 Poor quality of support Organizations with the resource can fix problems themselves since
they have access to the code. Companies such as IBM, SuSe and
RedHat do offer support for Linux for a fee. Finding skilled staff for
emerging open-source technologies can be difficult

Activity 3.4 Selecting open-source software

Purpose
This activity looks at a common issue facing technical managers: should

they adopt standard software promoted by the largest companies or visit the
open-source software or cheaper software from other vendors? www
Questions

1 For the different alternatives facing a technical manager below, assess:
(a) Which is most popular (research figures).
(b) The benefits and disadvantages of the Microsoft solution against the alternatives.
2 Make recommendations, with justifications, of which you would choose for a small–
medium or large organization.
A Operating system: Microsoft /Windows XP/Vista/Server or Linux (open-source)
for server and desktop clients.
B Browser: Internet Explorer browser or rivals such as Mozilla Firefox or Google
Chrome which is part based on open source.
C Programming language for dynamic e-commerce applications: Microsoft.Net or
independent languages/solutions such as the LAMP combination (Linux oper-
ating system, Apache server software plus the MySQL open source database
and scripting languages such as PHP, Perl or Python).
Answers to activities can be found at www.pearsoned.co.uk/chaffey