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.