Speech Text

Improving the Use of Open Source Software

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for the opportunity that has been given to me so I can stand here right now. In this special occation, I would like to deliver a speech entitle: Improving the use of open source software.

Let’s begin with the definition. Software is a part of computer system that consists of encoded information or computer instructions. Without software, a computer system won’t work properly. Then, what is open source software? Open-source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.  Open-source code is meant to be a collaborative effort, where programmers improve upon the source code and share the changes within the community.

From a business user perspective, open source software works in much the same way as proprietary software systems provided by commercial software firms – the only difference being that generally you don’t pay for it. However there are a few important differences – the idea behind open source software is that users are effectively co-developers, suggesting ways to improve it and helping to hunt out bugs and problems. This means that if you wish, you can modify it to your own needs, port it to new operating systems and share it with others.

What is the advantage of open source software? First, It’s generally free – it has been estimated that open source software collectively saves businesses $60 billion a year. Second, It’s continually evolving in real time as developers add to it and modify it, which means it can be better quality and more secure and less prone to bugs than proprietary systems, because it has so many users poring over it and weeding out problems. Third, using open source software also means you are not locked in to using a particular vendor’s system that only work with their other systems. And you can modify and adapt open source software for your own business requirements, something that is not possible with proprietary systems.

There are plenty of other open source alternatives for various paid applications. For example, operating system software. Windows can be replaced with Linux. Nortron/Kaspersky can be replaced with Avast!/AVG as antivirus program. Libreoffice to replace Microsoft Office as Office Suite. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to replace Internet Explorer as browser. Gimp to replace Adobe Photoshop as Image Editing software, and many more.

In conclusion, there are many advantages to use open source software, you don’t have to pay to use it, and you can modified the software as you want. It is better to use open source software than using paid software illegally. Using open source software means you also reduce the number of crackers. So ladies and gentlemen, let’s begin using open source software. That is all what I can told you about open source software. Thank you for your attention.