Enovate Design is passionate about open source software and the advantages it brings to organisations large and small. Where possible we prefer to offer our clients open source solutions rather than a more costly commercial alternative. In our experience to date clients find open source software far more attractive in comparison to commercial products, a few of the reasons why are covered below:
With open source software you receive the full source code and are permitted to make modifications and additions as and where necessary, providing these changes are then released back into the community. This ensures that you are not tied into a relationship with a particular supplier of a software product, who in the commercial sector very rarely releases source code. This removes any risk should that supplier decide to no longer support the product or cease trading.
Open source products are largely developed at a much faster rate than commercial products as they have a far larger development community behind them. Features that are becoming popular on the wider web such as OpenID are included in open source software much faster than their commercial counterparts.
Open source products are largely free to use or require a small donation but present huge cost savings over equivalent commercial software licenses. In the long-term open source products are more cost effective as you are not tied into costly annual support agreements to fund the on-going development of the product.
Open source products are developed by a community so it’s therefore possible to easily locate web professionals with the necessary experience and expertise to work on your website regardless of whether they were the original supplier.