I am a computer science student, and as such, I have learned a lot about open-source software. I recently had the opportunity to work on a project called OpenSeadragon during my internship at FamilySearch.org. I found working on the project deeply satisfying. I was able to contribute to code many people use, simultaneously contributing back to the open-source community that I rely on so much as a programmer. A year ago, I knew almost nothing about open-source software. Now I feel strongly that it is an initiative worth supporting and contributing to. It is because of the effort I invested into open-source that I care so much.
Another example of this can be seen in Cliff Stoll's personal account of chasing a hacker in his book, The Cuckoo's Egg. Because of Stoll's background as an astronomy student and a programmer, he recognized the value of computer networks and research sharing. But it wasn't until he worked for months to catch a hacker in his system that he really began to feel passionate about network security. Usually we invest in what we care about, but just as often we care about what we invest in.
Open-source is indeed quite awesome.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about the lack of guarantee of quality?
ReplyDeleteIn my limited experience, open-source project maintainers are usually more competent and almost as quick to respond to bugs or others issues as proprietary software companies are.
DeleteSpecifically, when I was doing an internship a couple of years ago we used a dynamic email service and there were often bugs that they pretty much tried to pretend weren't there. Eventually they would try to solve our problem for us and it usually took several weeks from our first contact to them solving the problem. In contrast, when working with OpenSeadragon I got help quickly from the maintainer and other contributors. I ended up having to write the code for the solution, but at least I was making progress and quickly.
Obviously, one of the reasons big companies pay for proprietary software is that they can demand fixes and solutions and they get a response. I think it really depends on the culture of the company whether they use open-source or proprietary software. In my internship with the first company I mentioned, we just didn't have enough clout to get the other company to move fast on our problem. I'm just glad there are different options we can choose from.
For my own personal projects, I use open-source for two reasons: I enjoy working with open-source and I can't afford proprietary software. Time vs. money, right?