The Lagoon TechMy little blog in Cyberspace.

Before anyone starts getting the pitchforks and torches out, let me say that I do use open-source software. I use it on my home internet router. I use it when I program web scripts for my websites. I use it for my online webmail. I do not completely throw out open source; I just do not think it has the potential that people may think it has.

Reason 1: There is no guarantee of quick technical support for open-source software.

People who support open source may tell you that open-source projects have their own forums where users can receive help. The problem is that no one is obligated to help you with any part of the software. Why? Because it is free. You are not paying them a dime (donations do not count), so what real incentive does anyone have to help others with the software?

If you are fortunate, you might have a few people who stick around and help users. However, life happens, and those people may not be available for long.

Reason 2: Nothing is free.

If you studied economics in school, you know that nothing is truly free. It still takes money, time, and effort to make whatever it is that is “free.” Open-source projects like CentOS and Ubuntu still take money to operate. Do not ever think they do not. They must pay for things like servers (to run the website), equipment to test on, and maybe even paying a few friends for their time helping with the project. Everything in the open-source world, somehow and some way, costs money.

Reason 3: The possibility of people taking an open-source project, adding/modifying/deleting parts of it, and releasing it under a different name.

Taking an open-source project and making your own version is called forking. Programmers fork projects because they want to “control” the project, but since they cannot control the main project, they make a copy and modify it to fit their own needs and preferences. Then they release it, sometimes under a different name.

There is nothing inherently wrong with forking an open-source project. However, it can potentially confuse someone who wants to use the software, because instead of choosing only what the main developers made, they now must choose between the fork(s) and the main project. Which version has the best features for my needs? Which project has the best free support? Which project will still be around in three years?

Reason 4: Several “clones” of the same thing.

With open-source software, you will notice some projects appear to be clones of each other. The best example is desktop Linux distributions. There are many desktop Linux operating systems out there, but why so many (not including the smaller distributions)? How is someone supposed to choose between Ubuntu, CentOS, Linux Mint, Debian, Fedora, Slackware, Arch Linux, Gentoo, Mageia, openSUSE, and so on?

Reason 5: No responsibility taken.

You will find that most open-source software is not under any kind of warranty. Most of the time, the developers of open-source software do not take responsibility for any damage, loss, or anything else that happens due to bugs or other issues.

Everyone is free to choose what kind of software they use, but remember that free does not always mean better.