Today, there is a growing need for the creation of new pieces of software. Historically, software has been created by a handful of large manufacturers who were working to meet a specific need of their customer base. This is famously illustrated by Microsoft. To their operating system and office, tools were designed and continue to be upgraded to directly answer growing needs in their customer base. Today, the way software is developed is changing.
There’s a growing belief of among programmers that software itself should be more fluid. Instead of using the traditional development model as seen in the Microsoft products, many programmers are moving to an open source definition of software. Under this methodology, developers work as part of a global team to answer the needs of users across the world. For example, an open source word processor may be used by thousands of different people each with different needs. Once a group has determined a need for a new functionality or has located a new security issue, a group of programmer’s works to develop a solution. Many users believe that open source software is often of free of bugs and provides the end user with a more flexible and customizable software experience.
Still it is important to recognize that there are many benefits built into boxed software. Software that is not considered open source often has a built in system for updates and may offer the end user more resources for immediate customer service or additional help.