pen Source can be compared in some ways to communism. It has its community of programmers and technical geeks almost fanatical in its support and a bunch of skeptics dismissing it as pipe dream. These days, however, Open Source is fast becoming a force to reckon with, with technological giants like IBM, HP, Dell, Oracle, and Sun backing it up.

The best things in life are free
Open Source essentially allows users access to program source codes. Users also have authorization not only to run the program but to also redistribute copies, making access incredibly easy and cheap. Software programmers can also modify and develop new programs from the source codes without fear of violating licensing laws.
At the center of the Open Source revolution is LINUX, an operating system similar to UNIX. Its developer, Linus Torvalds, originally designed it as a platform for Open Source software. The system – whose icon is a cute and cuddly-looking penguin – is slowly gobbling up the market share for servers, giving software titan Microsoft cause for concern.

The benefits of using Open Source software are obvious. You get cheap software with the same computing power as proprietary software, with the added possibility of tailoring it to suit your company’s needs. Programmers and IT departments of several companies like BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) are using Open Source for their desktops, even if it is not yet part of company policy because they are able to make programs that deliver the results their managers want.
Open Source has indeed entered the mainstream with the European Commission openly advocating it and some governments mandating its use in the public sector. The Open Source community is now looking at developing countries like the Philippines to continue the battle against proprietary software. Developing countries, after all, stand to gain the most from Open Source from both economic and technical standpoint.

Free Country
Open Source is a welcome option for a country where software piracy runs rife. The prohibitive prices of proprietary software often force companies to use a program on many computers, violating license agreements.
The University of the Philippines is one of the institutions that has mandated the use of LINUX and Open Source recently. Its current President, Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, cited economic and political reasons for the change. According to him, while budgetary constraints played a key role in their decision, Open Source would still be their choice because of its liberating and empowering characteristics that allow technical independence without violating intellectual property rights.
The country can definitely benefit from the promise of technical independence. With the multitude of computer schools producing thousands of information technology (IT) graduates per year, we definitely do not have a shortage of programmers. Open Source offers a chance to boost the IT industry and opens up a new avenue for business. Contrary to prevalent belief, there is a chance to market and make a business out of Open Source. It is mandated that source codes of any program that have been improved upon or developed must be shared but the actual program can be sold to users who has no technical capability to develop that source code. Offering technical support for the product is also another option for developers.

LINUX - whose icon is a cute and cuddly-looking penguin - is slowly gobbling up the market share for servers, giving software titan Microsoft cause for concern

Still, a lot of people remain skeptical about it, especially the end-users. Accustomed to proprietary software, people are wary of dealing with something unfamiliar and they categorize it as something only technical people and programmers can understand and use. They are often daunted by fears that it would not be as user-friendly as Microsoft’s Windows and Office programs.

In response to this, ASTI (Advanced Science and Technology Institute), a unit of the Department of Science and Technology, developed Bayanihan LINUX. The program makes the installation of LINUX uncomplicated – it can be in stalled in three keystrokes – and integrates it with several programs as alternatives to MSWord, MSExcel, and MSPowerPoint.
However, Open Source is not exactly without costs or drawbacks. There are the added costs of training, support, and maintenance. One of the major concerns of businesses is the availability of technical support for the products. The design of the program is made in a way that no one really owns the program, which also means that no one is really responsible for it. Help can be found in the programming community and the various Open Source and LINUX communities but policy-makers demand more tangible forms of support.
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