Enlist the Open Source Software Army
We are huge proponents of enlisting the open source software army whenever possible. The open source software movement is quite an incredible phenomenon. It is the kind of business evolution that will be written about for decades to come. In fact, the term revolution might be a better way to characterize it. Why should you care? For starters, open source software is free. But there is much more to love.
STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
Isaac Newton famously referenced this idea which dates back to the twelfth century. It refers to the idea of leveraging the ideas and intellectual developments of notable thinkers of the past. In our opinion, open source is one of the best examples of this principle in action. By leveraging open source software as a business, you are literally able to build on platforms that represent the work of millions of man hours. Think Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP and Asterisk to name a few. It is really quite staggering when you consider the body of code that open source is responsible for and is available for anyone to use.
OPEN SOURCE DEFINED
By definition, open source software is computer software that has freely accessible source code and is provided under licensing terms that allows anyone to view, modify, improve and in most cases, distribute the software. The most popular open source software is developed through collaboration of a community of developers who have a common interest in the particular software.