Why open-source software will (or will not) soon dominate the field of Essay

Why open-source software will (or will not) soon dominate the field of database management tools - Essay Example Open source software, unlike the proprietary software such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL, is free with only costs coming in for maintenance. This has far reaching implications that many people may not see. For instance, the fact that open source software are free means that newer and upcoming businesses will not likely opt this option be4caseu they are not able to buy the highly expensive products such as Oracle. Buying proprietary database management systems such as oracle requires businesses to write very big checks and this is a hindrance. As the new businesses adopt open source software, they end up being so used to it by the time they have enough money to invest in a proprietary DBMS such as oracle. In such a case, the cost of transferring from open source software can be prohibitive to such businesses and they opt to stay with this option. Opponents of the argument for open source software may argue that in the long run the open source software is not as free (or cheap) as it promises. But as much as this is true, the truth is that it is very affordable in the introduction part and many startup businesses find it easier to use this as opposed to using the proprietary software. A good example is facebook.com which in its original days was just an online social site developed by a university student. Needless to say, in its original days, facebook.com could not have managed to buy DBMS from a big vendor such as Microsoft or Oracle but had to use MySQL which it uses up to today. While facebook.com is now a multibillion firm which can easily buy a DBMS from a reputable vendor, the cost of transferring is almost prohibitive, and since the MySQL platform is also a relatively good one, the firm has proudly stayed on. This is just one example and many small firms will continue to use open source and stay with it even after th ey grow big. The other thing which will make open source to continue reigning is the issue of bugs.