Open Source vs Microsoft
- My company is looking for a company to design and program a new website. I have heard that my new site should be developed using “Open Source” and not Microsoft. I am very comfortable with products from Microsoft; why should I use open source and not Microsoft?
There are two different camps in the programming world, Microsoft supporters and open-source supporters. If you ask a representative from either camp to give you the pro’s and con’s of one versus another you should block off your calendar for the rest of the afternoon. Needless to say, each group is highly spirited in the defense of their chosen expertise.
Microsoft does certain things well and open-source does certain things well and like anything else it's important to choose the strategy that will work best for your organization. If you don’t have experience in either technology or have access to people within the company that do, or if you don’t have existing investments in either Microsoft (not including desktop operating systems and software) or open-source then the decision is much more of a toss up. What you will find most often is that organizations generally stick to what they are familiar with and feel comfortable supporting. Microsoft products often have better documentation and certified professionals can be easier to find. However open-source solutions often function just as well (and sometimes better) and the upfront cost is often free or certainly less than Microsoft.
So the short answer is if you are comfortable with Microsoft and don’t feel like investing a lot of time researching possible alternatives then you’ll probably be in good shape. However, keep in mind there are very good free and inexpensive open source solutions available for a variety of uses and before making a decision doing some exploration would certainly be time well spent.
- April 13, 2009