Impact of Open Source Development Process On Software Development

Traditionally, software development was conducted by the companies in their own offices. Software developers were not allowed to exchange their codes and for that matter any information. Each software development company retained the rights to the source code of the software with them. But a new phenomenon has emerged recently, which requires the developers to share a common platform and develop the software in collaboration with each other. This method is known as open source development.

The whole idea is to barter the information and the source code in order to get the best end product and make it available to the general public almost for free. Anyone can copy the source code of the software and modify it and can redistribute it without having to pay any royalty. This process helps in getting the reviews and comments and also ensures the transparency throughout the development stage. The end result is not only a free ware but better quality software.

However, the open source development process has deeply impacted the proprietary software development market. There is a huge competition among the development companies for providing low cost software solutions to the public which is used to free software, thanks to open source codes.

A software development company loses its revenues that come from selling the proprietary software and also sometimes lose the competitiveness because the competitors might use its source code.

However, it is advantageous for a software development company to contribute to open source development process, in many ways. Let us discuss the advantagesThe image of the company Involvement of a company in the open source software process enhances a company’s image as a company participating in community development activities. This will help a company increase its profits in the long run.

Gain Knowledge
If a software development company is involved in the open source development, the company gains an insight into the ideas generated by the other software developers. This way both the company and its employees learn new skills and ideas.

Hiring new employees
Many companies hire the new developers based on their coding and programming skill. Many young programmers these days are involved in developing and modifying the open source codes. Companies often gauge their performance through these open source software.

Complementary proprietary software
Many companies take active interest in open source software development process because they often see a long term business interest in the kind of open source software. If they want to launch complementary software, they first target the customers with a free ware in the form of open source software. The new product can be hugely benefitted from the success of open source software.


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