Linux and Open Source | SERVERS



Open source has come a long way toward being strong enough for enterprise-wide mission-critical use. Many good open source alternatives save upfront costs, development effort, and on-going support costs. You must evaluate if open source software is right for your organization. It depends on several factors, such as:
Top Tip: Open source

"Open source is not as easy as it looks at first glance. You trade license and maintenance costs for in-house staff to support the application."
—Samuel J. Levy
University of St. Thomas

  • Compliance and security requirements
  • How broadly the application is used
  • How widely you support the application
  • The activity and size of the user community
  • How much risk the organization is willing to absorb
  • How much cost savings would result
Of course, the Linux operating system has grown in popularity as many companies have significantly reduced costs while addressing security and reliability issues and avoiding single-vendor environments. There are several different flavors of Linux. Although cost comparisons vary from environment to environment, the following are ways that some companies have reduced costs and total cost of ownership using Linux:
  • Free, open-source systems with advanced versions still significantly less expensive than the Windows server operating systems
  • Fewer administration, maintenance, and support costs and a quick learning curve
  • Increased flexibility and adaptability with open source
  • Fewer hardware costs, improved performance
  • Less system downtime, improved reliability, higher end-user productivity
  • Fewer security and virus attacks, less security holes, free online security updates
Many companies start in the open-source area for noncritical applications and expand their use as they gain more comfort and experience.
Consider open source for a variety of areas. For example, there are lightweight components such as Spring, Jetty, and Tomcat that are options to JEE application servers like Weblogic. There are also alternatives such as MySQL rather than expensive database licenses. Many integration solutions (for example Jitterbit) can lower costs and development time.

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