A lot of bandwidth has been wasted arguing over the lack of usability in open-source software/free software (henceforth “OSS”). The debate continues at this moment on blogs, forums, and Slashdot comment threads.

Increasing number of software applications are going the free/open-source way these days. Looks like more and more software companies and developers have seen the barriers of closed-source programs and have now fully realized the significance of freedom.

The decision to deploy proprietary, rather than open source security solutions (OSS), is often influenced by some commonly held perceptions. Many IT professionals can’t seem to shake off the belief that OSS is inherently risky unreliable and complex. I am going to examine the most common of these perceptions to highlight how the facts are very often the exact opposite to what people believe.

The other night, a good question popped out of my head — How many of the geek teenagers wish to work on closed source technology today?

To its eternal shame, the UK Government uses far less open source than most. Worse, it seems to have a closed mind to the whole idea.

For open source software to achieve its full potential, people's perceptions must change. Yet how can that happen when open source is so woefully neglected by analysts, asks Martin Brampton.

Increasing number of software applications are going the free/open-source way these days.

Lately, some articles appeared which stated the open-source way of development didn't bring us any innovation. Jaron Lanier even goes further by saying closed source is the better approach to innovation. However, these people miss a lot of important points and facts about innovation, and therefore the conclusions they make are false. Having read a lot about innovation myself lately, I will try to show that the open-source way of doing things leads to more innovation, and more important, I will give some real life examples showing the closed-source inventions aren't that innovative at all, and pointing to some open-source inventions the other writers missed.

When I first tell people about open source software, one of the most common questions I get is this: "I just don't understand why people would create software if they don't get paid for it!