Software users get to choose the best of both worlds-GulfNews

Dubai: don't believe everything you read about tech camps siding only with both proprietary software (PS) or open source software (OSS), says Harvard Business School professor.

Dr. Josh Lerner, co-author of a new book, Comingled Code, said on a scale of growing companies, Governments and educational institutions are both forms of private mix and free public software to their needs, nixing the idea that there is one winner takes everything in the software industry.

Lerner, who co-authored the book with Mark Schankerman, said: "standard dichotomy between PS and OSS is exaggerated and misleading", and that both forms are increasingly being used in an evolving society to get the job done.

"While they are different, each has strengths and weaknesses, but it's not like it's oil and vinegar that they are diametrically opposed," said Lerner.

"We have a research done in 15 countries of 2000 software developers and 2000 users consisting of non-profit, Governments and businesses. We found that there was a very striking overlap on the user and producer side. "

After the survey data crunching, Lerner said one of the things that stood out was "co-mingling was going on here."

The big reason for mixing, he said, is that very often proprietary software that is greatly limited by big corporate giants such as Microsoft does not cover all of the user, who then free open source software can use to fill in the gaps.

Increased market share

Users are much more pragmatic about these days for all their bases, then stick to only one form of licensed software, he said.

Open source software is enjoying more of a market share as known versions of free software such as Mozilla Firefox Web browser against license private Web browsers, such as Windows Explorer compete.

Another good example of a growing open source presence is the Android operating system on mobile phones compared to the heavily limited proprietary versions used by Apple on the iPhone or Blackberry phones by Research in Motion.

A study conducted in 2008 by the Standish Group, for example, showed even then that open source software was making serious inroads as free software for all to enjoy and in relation to the proprietary software sold by computer software giant.

At the time of the release companies the Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson said open source software cost proprietary software large bundles of cash. "It's the ultimate in disruptive technology, and although it is only 6% of [a] estimated 1 trillion that the budgeted annually, constitutes a real loss of 60 billion dollars [Dh220.34 billion] in annual revenues to software companies," Johnson said.

Open source software was started in 1984 by the Free Software Foundation's general public license system where anyone can perform free open source software, and make changes in the redistribution of copies for wide public use renewed, as long as there are no restrictions on user launched.

In Lerner's recent survey of countries around the world he learned that there is a "tremendous growth in open source activity in time" has been.

National trends

Statistical figures from the survey results suggested that 26.8% of the respondents were using both proprietary and open source software, while 67.3 percent average said they only proprietary software used and 5.9 percent said that they only open source exclusively used.

Turkey scored highest in the survey of mixed-use category with 43.9 percent of respondents say they use both forms, while Singapore respondents lowest scored for mixed use with only 10 percent say that they are both used.

Not surprising then that Singapore respondents the highest users (87.7 percent) of proprietary software only.

The country that the highest rate of open source report only was Brazil with 12.9 percent.

At the end of the day said Lerner that anyone involved in the world of high-stakes international computing must accept that both forms of private and free public open source software here to stay ... together.

He compared the existence of both animals that live in a forest. "Just as singers and falcons in the eco-system, there is both co-habitation and competition between OSS and PS," Lerner said. "We need policies that both live together and to facilitate competition."

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